Christofias’ lawyers say Neophytou media interview constituted unlawful interference

Lawyers representing former president Demetris Christofias in a civil suit filed against him by his erstwhile friend and contractor Miltiades Neophytou have reported the plaintiff for unlawful interference in a court procedure in connection with an interview he gave a daily newspaper.

During Friday’s hearing, Christofias’ lawyers asked the court for permission to submit the interview as evidence, suggesting it constituted unlawful interference in the procedure.

Neophytou’s representatives denied it being an interference but did not object to it being submitted as evidence.

The case continues on April 13.

Neophytou is suing Christofias for €22m for construction work performed at the former president’s residence in Makedonitissa, holiday home in Kellaki, and campaign headquarters during the 2008 presidential bid in downtown Nicosia.

He is also seeking redress for money he poured into Omonia football club – allegedly at Christofias’ behest and with the promise he would be paid back in full – from 2008 to 2012, when he chaired its board.

In the interview to Phileleftheros earlier this month, Neophytou claimed that early on in his stint as Omonia chief one of his associates came to him with a request for €25,000 “to fix a match.”

He reiterated his claim that, although he had always supported Omonia, he never thought himself a man with any real knowledge of, or particular interest in, football, and that his actions were the result of direct instructions from Christofias, who aimed at boosting his popularity through Omonia’s success.

Neophytou said that the reason he never bargained the cost of buying players for Omonia was that his instructions were “to do certain things at any cost”.

He claimed that, in signing former star player Yiannakis Okkas, he was instructed to entice him with a promise that he would be nominated for MP by Akel.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.