BRITON Gary Robb was due to be extradited to Cyprus last night to face allegations of unlawfully developing and trading in Greek Cypriot properties in the north in a first of its kind case for Cypriot justice.
Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said yesterday two investigators from the police headquarters’ Criminal Investigation Department were sent to London to collect the 48-year-old fugitive after his arrest based on a European arrest warrant issued by the Cypriot authorities.
“He is being investigated in connection with conspiracy to commit a felony and misdemeanour, unlawful possession and use of property registered to another person, obtaining money under false pretences, and other similar offences related to the illegal exploitation of Greek Cypriot properties in the occupied areas,” said Katsounotos.
The offences under investigation were allegedly committed during 2004 and 2005 in the occupied village of Klepini in Kyrenia, he noted.
Robb, escaped to northern Cyprus after being released on bail for drug dealing in the UK in 1996. After 13 years of hiding out in the north, Robb was recaptured in January 2009 and sentenced to five years in a UK jail.
In June, England’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) told the Cyprus Mail he would be extradited to Cyprus based on a European arrest warrant issued by the Cypriot authorities in relation to the usurping of Greek Cypriot properties in the occupied areas.
The CPS said the warrant listed nine offences and stated that “between 2004 and 2005, the defendant conspired with others (named as Tuncel Tahir Soycan and Akan Kursat Talat) to develop land which did not belong to them, and to sell villas built without permission upon that land by means of false representations to the prospective purchasers”.
All cases against Robb refer to properties he sought to develop in the Kyrenia district and “concern the fraudulent sale or offering for sale of villas on the illegally-developed plots of land”.
Following his release on parole last month in the UK, the 48-year-old was re-arrested ahead of his intended extradition.
According to Katsounotos, the suspect will be brought before the Nicosia District Court today to be remanded in custody giving police the opportunity to question him and complete the criminal file opened on the alleged offences.
Upon completion of the investigation, “the case file will be brought before the Attorney-general Petros Clerides, who we are in constant consultation with, to give final instructions in relation to the matter under investigation,” said the spokesman.
“It is the first time such a case is being brought to justice,” he added.
Asked whether the police could put together a strong case six years after the allegations first arose, Katsounotos said: “We have witness statements on which the arrest warrant was based.”
Before his recapture by British police in 2009, Robb established AGA Developments, a property development company that allegedly lured hundreds of unsuspecting Britons into investing in villas and apartments built on Greek Cypriot-owned land in the north.
British police believe around 400 Britons collectively lost in the region of 35 million UK pounds in deals with Robb’s AGA Developments. AGA’s notorious Amaranta Valley project located close to the north coastal village of Klepini still consists of 500 rapidly decaying half-built properties.
European arrest warrants for Robb and his two AGA associates Tahir Soycan and Akan Kursat were first issued in 2005 by a Nicosia court amid allegations the three were trading in illegally acquired Greek Cypriot properties in the north.
On his recapture, Britain waited for Robb to serve his sentence for drug dealing before deciding to enact the European arrest warrant.
