By Constantinos Psillides
POLICE investigators will be travelling to Greece to question Christos Drakopoulos, the Greek national who is wanted for his alleged connection to the Paphos Sewerage Board scandal, a police source told the Cyprus Mail.
Drakopoulos was set to arrive in Cyprus on Wednesday, but investigators decided that it would serve the case better if they visited him in Greece.
“If the need arises, Drakopoulos will come to Cyprus,” said the source, adding that the businessman is cooperating with authorities, unlike former Paphos mayor Savvas Vergas and Sewerage Board Manager Eftihios Malekkides who are currently under custody but remain tight-lipped on the case.
Drakopoulos contacted authorities through his lawyer, upon being informed that a warrant would be issued for his arrest.
Cyprus police has an international warrant for the arrest of Drakopoulos standing by in case he decides to disappear.
He is expected to be a key witness in the case and it has been alleged he is one of several contractors who paid Malekkides and mayor Vergas large amounts of money in kickbacks.
Drakopoulos’ company was awarded a tender to build a waste treatment plant in 2007.
According to the head investigator’s testimony in court during last week’s remand hearing, a high ranking official with the sewerage board gave a statement to police that in 2007, on the day the contract for the waste treatment plant was signed, he met with Drakopoulos who told him that he would give Malekkides the sum of £200,000 (around €340,000) to split between himself, Vergas and two other municipal councillors.
The official told authorities how Drakopoulos left the municipality only to return after a while with nylon bags filled with stacks of money. The official added that the company’s owner stepped into the mayor’s office accompanied by Malekkides and the two councillors.
Drakopoulos’ statement to investigators appears to be the missing component for police to proceed with further arrests.
The sewerage project that Vergas and Malekkides were handling should have cost €78m, but taxpayers have so far paid €109m, with contractors claiming around €25m more. The two men are suspected of inflating the project’s budget in order to receive kickbacks from contractors.
Malekkides, Vergas and Georgios Michaelides – a former DISY councillor who is suspected of receiving a bribe of €30,000 by a contractor – are expected to appear in court on Friday as their eight-day remand expires.
