A SENIOR police officer was yesterday remanded in custody for eight days in connection with a tax evading car assembly scam, but a Transport Department official arrested at the same time was released due to lack of evidence.
The remand came as Chief of Police Andreas Angelides vehemently denied press reports implicating him in the purchase of two cars currently being investigated by customs authorities.
Yiannakis Panayiotou, currently under suspension from his post at the police academy, was arrested on Wednesday along with Transport Department official Yiannakis Athanasiou.
The court ruled that the evidence presented by police yesterday did not justify Athanasiou’s remand.
Police had requested the remand of both men in connection with three cases of cars assembled over the period between October 2001 and September this year.
The court heard that investigators were looking into 142 case files of luxury vehicles.
Police told the court that two cars seized from Panayiotou’s home last Saturday had not been registered and that their chassis numbers had been removed from other vehicles.
A garage owner testified that in the past seven years, Panayiotou had been taking luxury cars to his garage for repair and assembly.
Police said the third car involved in the case had been found at the witness’s garage.
The court heard that Athanasiou had told police that he gave his approval for the cars imported by Panayiotou because they were old friends.
The alleged scam emerged a couple of weeks ago after customs officers raided several garages across the island and seized luxury vehicles thought to have been imported in the form of spare parts.
The case took a surprising twist yesterday as Politis implicated the chief of police in the purchase of two luxury cars – a Mercedes CLK 230 and a Range Rover — currently been investigated by customs.
In a morning radio show, a furious Angelides rejected the allegations and charged the newspaper of unethical behaviour.
“It is impossible to tolerate this irresponsibility; it is a violation of the human rights of honest citizens and I wonder what further measures to take,” Angelides said.
It is understood that Angelides has already filed a number of libel suits against the newspaper.
He added: “I will also appeal to the journalists’ union for the unethical stance of this newspaper – a newspaper which prints vomit, resentment and nothing else.”
Angelides said the report was a complete lie.
“I’m telling you it’s mud slinging, lies; so today I will sue for libel.”
“It’s a campaign of lies from a manufacturer of mud,” Angelides said.
Later in the afternoon, Angelides issued a written statement saying the report was unfounded.
He said that the Mercedes had been bought from a private citizen, who had nothing to do with the ongoing investigation, after the sale of his Mitsubishi Pajero.
“It remained in my possession for a little while, effectively in the possession of my son Michalis, and was sold to M.C. Sport Car Ltd,” the statement said.
The same company also bought the Range Rover.
Angelides said that yesterday he had spoken to the owner of the company, currently in Japan, who had told him that “he was sorry he omitted to transfer (the ownership) of the vehicle (from Angelides)”.
“The car is owned by the company since the day the sale transaction tool place,” Angelides’ statement said.
Deputy Attorney-general Petros Clerides yesterday confirmed that the two cars were being investigated and that they were indeed registered to the chief of police.
Clerides stressed, however, that this in itself did not mean anything, and that he had spoken to Angelides, who explained that one of the cars had been put up for sale since August last year and that the other had been bought by his son.
Clerides could not say whether the cars were suspicious, but the authorities were obliged to check all parameters.
“In any case, just because they are registered to someone, it does not mean anything,” Clerides said.
“The information we had was that Angelides was the owner and we deemed it necessary to investigate,” he added.
“Isn’t it natural to investigate these things?
“And if we hadn’t, wouldn’t it cast a shadow on all of us who are obliged to investigate all aspects of the case?” Clerides said.
The deputy Attorney-general did not rule out fresh arrests, adding that there was a steady flow of important information on the case.
Clerides said there were two main methods used in the case.
One was to import the parts and assemble the cars, and the other was to import written-off vehicles and then get the Transport Department’s approval to repair them.
He revealed that in some cases £4,000 had been paid to the state as duty, when the actual amount should have been closer to £40,000.
Communications Minister Averoff Neophytou yesterday repeated that the scam could not have been perpetrated without the involvement of public officials.
“Without Trojan Horses, a fraud cannot be carried out (in the public sector),” Neophytou said.
The minister said the Transport Department was going through the existing legislation for loopholes, which could have been used to defraud the state.
He revealed that, according to law, there was no obligation for insurance companies or car owners to make an official declaration to the department when a car was a total loss, so that the vehicle could be written off.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
