Deputy victim of arson attack

DISY DEPUTY Georgios Tasou was the victim of car arson yesterday, while in a separate incident a Nicosia prison officer also had his car destroyed in an arson attack.
At around 1.35am yesterday, the Larnaca DISY deputy noticed fire coming out of his garage. He called the emergency services who responded immediately. They were unable to save the €10,000 car in the garage, which was completely destroyed by the fire. Police have reason to believe this was another case of arson in Cyprus.
Arson has become a very common method of settling disputes on the island, usually related to financial disagreements. However, reports yesterday suggested the attack on Tasou was linked to his work as a parliamentarian. Specifically, it is believed to be linked to him reporting companies suspected of financial irregularities and tax evasion to the Attorney-general and Auditor-general.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, the DISY MP said he could not rule out that possibility but did not suspect anyone.
He said he had never received threats from anyone before. Making his point, he said he spent the summer sleeping with the window open in his ground floor home.
Tasou also uses the rented home to house his architectural office. The fire started in one garage spread to another used as a storage space. Architectural studies dating back many years were destroyed in the fire.
Police spokesman Andreas Angelides said a number of people were brought in for questioning yesterday though no arrests were made.
The arson drew wide condemnation from across the political spectrum.
DISY released a statement condemning the “cowardly” act designed to hurt democratic institutions and silence MPs.
In a separate incident, an officer working at Nicosia central prison found his car destroyed by arson at around 2am. The car was parked outside his home in Latsia. Footage from a surveillance camera shows a hooded man putting a bomb on the car windshield then walking away. The bomb exploded 90 seconds later.
This is the second attack against the same officer. In 2009, a bomb was thrown at the entrance to his home but failed to explode.
Reports yesterday said police are focusing their investigations on a convict serving time in the prison.

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.