A DEFENCE lawyer in the ongoing murder trial of media owner Andis Hadjicostis yesterday again sought to attack the credibility of a prosecution witness.
Witness Giorgos Zavrantonas is currently serving a 12-year prison term at an unspecified location for attempting to kill Andreas Gregoriou, one of the defendants in the case, and conspiring to murder five people involved in online gambling in a case unrelated to Hadjicostis’ murder in January 2010.
Zavrantonas has previously implicated Gregoriou, and co-defendants television presenter Elena Skordelli, 42 and her brother Tasos Krasopoulis, 37, in Hadjicostis’ murder.
He claims it was Gregoriou who told him about plans to murder the Sigma boss. Zavrantonas further claims to have been feigning interest in the Hadjicostis affair in order to get close to Gregoriou and track his movements. He did this in order to keep another man, Alexis Mavromichalis, informed about Gregoriou’s whereabouts.
Against the backdrop of plans to murder Hadjicostis, Mavromichalis and Gregoriou were plotting to have each other killed.
An attempt on Gregoriou’s life was made in December 2009, just weeks before the Hadjicostis hit. Mavromichalis was arrested but then released without being charged.
Also known as ‘Alexoui’, Mavromichalis is an alleged underworld associate.
Complicating matters further, Zavrantonas says Gregoriou had asked him (Zavrantonas) to help kill Mavromichalis because of a history of bad blood between the two.
In court yesterday, Zavrantonas stuck to his story, saying that while he promised to help Gregoriou to take out Mavromichalis, this was a “false promise”.
At around the same time, according to Zavrantonas, Gregoriou had also asked for his assistance to murder Hadjicostis. Zavrantonas told Gregoriou he would think about this.
Asked by Gregoriou’s defence lawyer why he allegedly told his client he would think about taking part in the Hadjicostis hit, Zavrantonas said he was playing for time.
Before deciding what to do about the Hadjicostis affair, the witness said, he first needed to straighten out the business involving the two rivals Gregoriou and Mavromichalis.
There was too much on his plate at the time, Zavrantonas said.
Zavrantonas has previously told the court that it was Mavromichalis who tipped off police about the plot to have Hadjicostis killed.
Mavromichalis found out because in the meantime Zavrantonas was reporting back to him on everything concerning Gregoriou.
Zavrantonas said he had approached Gregoriou and pretended to befriend him in order to gain his trust; but what he was really doing was spying on Gregoriou for the benefit of Mavromichalis.
Gregoriou’s lawyer put it to the witness that he was lying about his client’s involvement in the Hadjicostis murder plot because he had cut a deal with authorities – a claim which Zavrantonas categorically denies.
Zavrantonas – who has been placed in a witness protection programme – is being kept at an undisclosed location. But Gregoriou’s lawyer hinted in court yesterday that the location may not be so secret after all, because security there was not very tight.
The lawyer claimed Zavrantonas was not under police guard and that he was even able to order take-out. The witness denied this.
The trial continues.
