THE FIANCEE of a suspect held in connection with the staging of fake accidents and obtaining thousands of pounds in insurance claims told another suspect to get rid of a car sought by police and then flee abroad, Nicosia District Court heard yesterday.
Three more suspects, including a police officer, were remanded in custody for eight days suspected of defrauding insurance companies by staging fake accidents between January 2000 and September this year.
Two suspects already in custody, car body repair garage owner Andreas Antoniou and his employee Harris Tsiakkas, both 27, were re-remanded for five days yesterday.
The three, Antoniou’s fiancée, 24-year-old Andri Panteli, marine police officer Marios Aristidou, 23, both from Limassol, and 27-year-old Marios Andreou from Paphos were arrested on Thursday for alleged involvement in nine fake accident claims.
Police told the court that on January 15 this year Andreou filed an insurance claim saying that while driving his car the day before, he cut off a car driven by Panteli, and they collided. Panteli’s car was taken to Antoniou’s garage for repairs.
But police told the court that Panteli’s car had been involved in a real collision back in September 2000 and that the damage claimed by Andreou in January was allegedly identical to that caused in the September accident.
The court heard that on March 27, 2001, Aristidou filed a claim that he had hit the rear of a car driven by Panteli who subsequently hit the car in front of her, which then collided with a van.
Both Panteli’s and Aristidou’s cars were taken to Antoniou’s garage for repairs.
Panteli received £8,200 for damage to her vehicle, but police told the court that the declared damage did not fit the way the accident allegedly happened.
In a third case on June 6 this year, Aristidou filed a claim that while driving in Larnaca he lost control of his vehicle and crashed into the back of a parked car.
The cars were taken to Antoniou’s garage in Limassol.
Police told the court that Antoniou received £19,000 for the damage to the second car.
But police said they had written testimony from a government department that the same car had been inspected the day before the alleged accident and was found to have identical damage to that listed in the insurance claim.
The court also heard that while Aristidou’s car had been covered he asked a different insurance company to issue a cover note. That was the company which paid the £19,000, police said.
Police said all nine incidents happened at night and no injuries were ever reported, despite serious damage on several occasions.
The court was told that immediately after Antoniou’s arrest last week, his fiancée allegedly instructed Andreou to get rid of a car sought by police and to get out of the country.
The next day Andreou allegedly torched the vehicle after removing the chassis serial number to prevent police from identifying it.
Police said more arrests were imminent and requested the suspects’ remand for eight days.
Despite objections from the defence, Judge Michalis Papamichael granted the request and ordered police to provide every help to Panteli who is two months pregnant and is on a special diet.
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