Two officials accused of land fraud

THE mukhtar of a Nicosia district village and a land registry employee have been detained in connection with property fraud, police said yesterday.

The two, Kalo Chorio Klirou mukhtar Andreas Paphitis and civil servant Iosif Antoniou yesterday appeared before a district court, which reserved its decision on whether to remand them or not until today at 8.30am.

Police said Paphitis and Antoniou were suspected of a string of offences including forgery, bribery, corruption and abuse of power.

The court heard that police have been investigating the case for the past two years when it was first reported to them at the end of 2002, but only now did they find solid evidence to secure the two suspects’ arrests.

The case concerns 12 plots of land, which belonged to one Charalambos Yiallourou, without any ownership titles.

The man died in 1948 and left his four children as heirs.

The land, apart from two plots, was lawfully transferred to the heirs at various times, the court heard.

But, according to police, the registration of the two plots, located at Kalo Chorio Klirou, was irregular and illegal.

It transpired that the two suspects forged the documentation and in 1996 one of the plots was sold to Paphitis’ construction company for £10,000.

The land was divided in half and sold to two buyers for £8,000 respectively.

The elaborate scam was allegedly made possible with the assistance of Antoniou, who altered the land registry files, which clearly showed who the real owners were, the court heard.

For this, Antoniou received various amounts of money, police claim.

The same method was used for the second plot of land.

Police said Antoniou gave a statement on Monday night in which he admitted committing the offences in association with Paphitis.

And after new developments on Monday, police could be arresting more people involved in the case.

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