Not enough evidence to prosecute in phone-tapping scandal

IT IS unlikely that those responsible for leaking information and personal data in a CyTA phone tap scandal will be prosecuted.

The investigative report into the affair was yesterday handed to Attorney-general Petros Klerides, who said he would now “study the report to see if prosecutions could be made”.
The scandal was first reported by Politis newspaper back in March.

According to the paper, a small group of CyTA employees – acting independently – were illegally selling private communications information to well-connected police officers and private detectives, and this had been going on for some time.

The information allegedly disclosed included calls made and received by the person “under surveillance”, the time and date of the calls, the person’s location at the time of the calls, the duration of the calls, SMS, in some cases a written transcript of a conversation, and even the identity number of the caller.

The allegations cover the period 2004-2005.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, the chief investigator in the probe, Savvas Matsas, told reporters that time appeared to have sided with the culprits but that lessons had been learnt so not to allow similar offences to happen again.

“The fact that these offences took place such a long time ago were a catalyst in not being able to prosecute”, Matsas told reporters yesterday.

“There is not sufficient material witness to pinpoint any possible suspects because it happened so long ago.”

Matsas added that the investigation had solely looked into the issue of selling personal data and not phone-tapping.

Also commenting on the report yesterday, the Attorney-general said that it was too early to see if indeed a criminal prosecution was possible or not.

“We are talking about an extensive report of 54 pages. I will need to review it before any assumptions can be made.”

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.