The Supreme Court on Tuesday reduced the jail sentences for two of the people found guilty in the high-profile trial concerning the purchase by Cyta’s pension fund of a land plot in Dromolaxia at an inflated price.
The defendants had appealed to the Supreme Court to either have the guilty verdicts reversed, the sentences reduced, or both.
In its ruling, the top court ordered a reduction in the sentence on trade union representative and Cytavision director Orestis Vasileiou from nine to seven years.
The court found that the sentence imposed on Vasileiou for money laundering was excessive.
The guilty verdict, issued by Larnaca criminal court in late December 2014, was upheld.
Also reduced was the sentence slapped on land registry official Gregoris Souroullas, again on money laundering charges, from six-and-a-half years to four-and-a-half years.
Souroullas had likewise appealed to have the guilty verdict itself reversed, but the Supreme Court rejected this.
For ex-Cyta boss Stathis Kittis, the court rejected both his appeal to have the guilty verdict overturned and his eight-year sentence reduced.
However, at the same time it cleared Kittis of one of the charges on which he had been found guilty – conspiracy to defraud.
The top court rejected appeals filed by Akel member Venizelos Zanettos and Charalambos Tsouris, a member of the board of directors of Cyta at the time, to have their guilty verdicts overturned.
Zanettos had been sentenced to three-and-a-half years, and Tsouris to three years.
On the company Polleson Holdings Ltd, the court rejected both the appeal to have the guilty verdict reversed and for a reduction of a €300,000 fine for money laundering.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court said the criminal court had properly assessed the evidence brought before it and its findings were by and large correct.
The trial began in March 2014. It revolved around the purchase by Cyta’s pension fund of office space in Dromolaxia, near Larnaca airport, at a price several times the going market value. The land was initially sold to a company called Wadnic Trading, which upgraded the coefficients, built on it and sold it on to the Cyta pension fund for €20 million.
The jail sentences were handed down in early January 2015.
Two police officers were also jailed for six months later on, after pleading guilty to corruption charges.
