Polyviou threatens to take hearings behind closed doors

YESTERDAY’S proceedings of the Mari Committee were interrupted after several lawyers present seized the opportunity to attack the Committee’s legitimacy.

The opportunity came when former National Guard Deputy Commander, Savvas Argyrou, refused to answer a question saying that it would clash the Attorney-General’s criminal investigation in relation to the July 11 naval base blast.

“You’re shielding the witnesses with this,” Rikkos Erotokritou told committee head Polys Polyviou arguing that anyone could use “the general and ill-defined reason” that their answer would interfere with the criminal investigation.

Argyrou’s lawyer was quick to intervene to defend his client arguing that if the state wanted to run parallel investigations that was its own problem and his client had rights.

The room was getting noisier with increasingly louder voices and more intense arguments when Polyviou called a five-minute break to discuss “the possibility of closing the procedures.”

“If you keep interrupting,” Polyviou scolded the lawyers, “I will be having the hearings in my offices.”

He said that he “chose transparency despite its dangers of delays and the rest” but that he was determined to file a report, if possible, by September 30.

The scuffle was not missed by TV cameramen who rushed in to capture the incident.

To their possible disappointment it was soon ended.

Polyviou ousted the cameras and read out from the constitution explaining that if Argyrou or anyone else objects to answering a question “for the reason it might incriminate him, he is not obliged to answer nor will he be penalised.”

The law is clear and I will respect and apply it, he said.

But he added that “transparency needs to be combined with effectiveness,” saying that he would do whatever possible to complete the investigation including, he suggested, keeping them private.