Larnaca land registry investigation deepens

A report by the auditor-general on potential wrongdoings in the acquisition by the state of Larnaca’s land registry building will be conveyed to the attorney-general to look into, it emerged on Thursday.

The House watchdog committee asked Auditor-General Odysseas Michaelides to send his report to Costas Clerides after it appeared that a series of criminal offences had taken place.

According to the report, the procedure for the acquisition of the building could be described as a covert assignment to a land owner to construct a public project, bypassing legal processes, in a manner and cost that constitutes squandering public money for the benefit of a private citizen.

The building was rented in the summer of 2008. Some 18 months later, the cabinet decided to buy it.

The initial rent agreement included a lease-to-buy clause which stipulated that the amount paid for rent until the day the clause was triggered — €933,000 — would go towards the acquisition.

The government eventually decided to expropriate the building following the decision of a three-member committee set up for the particular issue, and the clause went out the window.

The audit service said the state eventually forked out €14.2 million, or around €15.2m when the rents to date were factored in.

The land registry had valued the building between €11.5m and €13.7m, without taking into account the rents.

The public works department valuation estimated the building’s market value to be €8.5m.

 

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