‘Prince of Congo’ among three held after running up huge bill at presidential suite

THREE foreigners, including a man claiming to be a prince of Congo, were remanded in custody for five days yesterday after spending three nights at the Presidential Suite of the Hilton Hotel in Nicosia without paying.

The three, aged 38, 41 and 55, stayed at the hotel from Sunday to Wednesday, running up a £7,867 bill. They were arrested late in the evening when they refused to pay.

The remand hearing was postponed on Thursday until yesterday, when Nicosia District Court ordered their remand for five days.

The alleged ‘Prince of Congo’ made out to be a representative of a charitable organisation who had come to Cyprus, accompanied by two helpers, to discuss the matter of donations with the Lions Club in Nicosia.

The three men allegedly pre-paid their stay at the Presidential Suite with a post-dated cheque, issued by the alleged charitable organisation.

But police contacted Interpol, who confirmed that both the cheque and the organisation were bogus. The ‘prince’ has been a resident of Belgium since 1998. According to a source, he also made out to be here on invitation of the First Lady Fotini Papadopoulos to give a speech to mark International Women’s Day on March 8.

Nicosia CID are investigating the case and have not ruled out the possibility that a much bigger scam was under way than spending three nights for free at a top hotel.

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.