UCy link to Tepak scandal suspects investigated

Some of the suspects embroiled in the €5m state technical university (Tepak) fraud scandal may also be implicated in a separate investigation into research programmes at the University of Cyprus (UCy), police said on Monday.

According to deputy police spokesman Stelios Stylianou, 14 separate cases had been investigated and the findings have been conveyed to the attorney-general who will decide how to proceed.

The cases mainly concern tenders and project assignments at the Oceanography Centre at the UCy.

A report was filed to police in 2015 by the auditor-general through the state Legal Service, Stylianou said.

According to sources cited by the Cyprus News Agency, the inquiries concern equipment purchases and maintenance of certain installations.

Stylianou said the report was still being examined and thus no orders had yet been given about any arrests.

He added some of the individuals embroiled in the alleged €5m Tepak research grant fraud are believed to be implicated in the UCy investigation.

Eleven people in the Tepak scandal have so far been remanded in relation with possible fraud involving 23 EU co-funded research programmes worth €5m between 2008 and 2015.

The prime suspect is a female former employee of the university, Rozita Pavlidou, who managed the research programmes in question.

The remaining suspects are Tepak university professor Costas Costa and Pavlidou’s relatives whom she allegedly threatened colleagues to ensure they were included in research programmes.

One witness claimed Pavlidou had said she knew people in the underworld and “it would only take a phone call to place a bomb somewhere.”

So far, 70 people have been questioned by police in the Tepak investigation, Stylianou said.

“Interviews continue, statements are being taken, suspects are being questioned as well as other people.”

 

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