UK-convicted Cypriot fraudster Michael Voudouris, 47, has asked to be transferred from prison in Scotland to serve the remainder of his sentence in Cyprus, according to reports from Scotland where he is imprisoned.
Voudouris was caught in Cyprus in May 2014 after being released by Turkish Cypriot police, and detained for extradition to the UK. The breakaway regime in the north has no extradition treaty with Britain.
He had fled to the north of the island in October 2012 after pleading guilty to a €12.6 million (£10.3 million) tax fraud and released on bail.
The Cypriot was wanted in the UK for laundering millions of pounds stolen by Glasgow computer firm Q-Tech Distribution in a carousel VAT fraud. Voudouris stashed fortunes in bank accounts in Cyprus, Greece and Switzerland.
Ultimately jailed in Scotland for 11 years, the Scottish Daily Record now reports that he wants to serve the rest of his sentence in Cyprus.
The paper said he had given up his fight to keep his £1.6million mansion in Stirling, and believes that decision will help seal a deal to get him shipped back to Cyprus. He has reportedly told friends it was part of a deal with prosecutors which would see him in Cyprus by the end of summer.
Voudouris’ family live in the north but as there is no prisoner transfer treaty with the Turkish Cypriots, he would have to be transferred to the Nicosia central prisons.
The paper cited Crown authorities as saying no deal had been done but senior Scottish Prisons Service sources confirmed to them that a transfer request had been received. Inmates can request transfers abroad to be nearer their families but they are not always granted.
As Voudoursi is a UK citizen, the SPS must confirm that the Cypriot authorities would accept him before putting the case to Scottish ministers, the paper added.
An SPS source admitted that if the transfer was approved, the Scottish authorities could not force the Cypriots to keep Voudouris in jail for the duration of his sentence.
He added: “What normally happens is that the country receiving the prisoner will ensure he serves a sentence in keeping with what he would have got in their courts.”
“He might not walk as soon as he thinks but he could walk a lot earlier than he would if he were forced to remain here.”
