The Attorney-general Costas Clerides has ordered a criminal investigation into a case allegedly involving former interior minister and current MEP Neoklis Sylikiotis and the former Paphos district officer Yiannakis Mallourides, police said on Wednesday.
According to the police deputy spokesperson Nicoletta Tyrimou, the case concerns a report made by the auditor-general’s office to the legal services, and they in their turn, asked the police to launch an investigation.
Daily Politis reported that the case concerns the transfer of state land worth €52,000 in Mallourides’ name, through his sister. The issue dates back to 2011, when Sylikiotis had tabled to the cabinet a proposal while he was interior minister, for the sale of the land to Mallourides’ sister for € 5,000 – because she was deemed to be very poor – instead of its estimated worth of €52,000.
In March 2013, the woman reportedly transferred the land to her brother.
Last year, following a request of the land registry for Mallourides to either pay the difference – €47,000 – or the land would be taken back by the government, he was quoted by the media as saying that he had already informed authorities that he could not pay and that the government was free to take the land if it wished.
He had told media that that property, some 500 square metres, was a strip of land adjacent to a family owned plot, and which his sister had requested to buy so that she could create a passage to her land, as it was inaccessible. Mallourides had also said that it was farming land, and it was worth less than what it was estimated.
Speaking to Politis, Sylikiotis said that he does not recall the specific case, and expressed bewilderment over the probe against him and the way it is being presented.
He said that the 2011 decision was a standard one for the cabinet. In every such case, Sylikiotis said, a special ministerial committee examines the requests submitted which are then forwarded to the cabinet where they are approved or rejected. He said that he did not remember the specific case but that in each case proper procedures were followed.
