By Alex Mita
THREE men are being held in police custody in connection with an alleged scam involving the illegal sale of Turkish Cypriot property in Psevdas village, police confirmed.
The men were remanded in custody for eight days by a Nicosia court yesterday.
Police Deputy Superintendent Kypros Michaelides told the court that the three suspects, Turkish Cypriot civil engineer Turkut Yialshar, 49, lawyer Michalis Vladimiros, 57, and Psevdas Mukhtar Minas Mina, 50, had allegedly sold Turkish Cypriot land worth around £4.5 million, with the use of forged documents from 1999-2003.
Michaelides said the suspects were facing charges of conspiracy to defraud, forging of documents, perjury, abuse of power, bribing a civil servant and acquiring and using Turkish Cypriot property in breach of article 139/91.
The alleged scam was reported by the Guardian of Turkish Cypriot Property, George Theodoulou, through a letter to the Chief of Police.
Theodoulou said that between 2001-2002 there had been at least 10 cases of sale of Turkish Cypriot land, which was managed by Yialshar.
He claimed Yialshar had managed to get a power of attorney that allowed him to manage the plots on behalf of their owners and descendants. Applications to represent the owners of the land were allegedly received through perjury.
Theodoulou also claimed that Psevdas Mukhtar Mina had issued a death certificate of a Turkish Cypriot whose land they wanted to sell.
Police Chief Tassos Panayiotou told journalists yesterday he did not rule out that the case under investigation might be bigger than expected.
Speaking after a meeting with President Tassos Papadopoulos and Justice Minister Doros Theodorou, Panayiotou said he did not rule out the possibility of well-known people being involved in the scam.
“As long as the interrogation is going on nothing can be ruled out,” he said. “It’s possible that more people will be arrested.
“We are now investigating 21 files related to the case, but whether the files are connected with those arrested will be known after the investigation is completed.”
The Director of the Land Survey Department, Andreas Christodoulou, said an internal investigation showed the existence of the forged documents.
“There are 33 cases involving the buying and selling of documents, the sale of Turkish Cypriot Property to Greek Cypriots, or foreigners,” he said.
“In an investigation of documents in the Land Survey Department, we discovered they were forged and this led to the arrest of three people. The total value of the land sold comes to £4.5 million.
Interior Minister Andreas Christou said cases involving the illegal sale of property were sad.
“One can’t help but feel saddened and angered when some individuals take advantage of their position or the existing procedures in order to defraud a fellow countryman or the state,” he said.
“Unfortunately cases like this one can never be stopped no matter what kind of measures we take.”
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.
