THE OWNER of MaxDATA Holdings Ltd was yesterday re-remanded in custody for eight days on suspicion of using £680,000 of investors’ money for personal purposes.
Andreas Athanassiou, 52, from the Strovolos suburb of Nicosia, was arrested by officers of the Criminal Investigation Department on Thursday last week. He was remanded in custody for five days the following day on suspicion of withdrawing the money from a bank account between March and October last year.
The company had obtained the money from investors ahead of a stock market listing that never happened.
The suspect was earlier this week admitted to Nicosia Hospital, where he is still being treated for chest pains and exhaustion. Athanassiou was yesterday remanded in custody for eight more days.
The company began preparations to enter the CSE early last year. It was ordered to return investors’ money after its entry was delayed and issued cheques to pay back the money. But about 100 investors in the company have claimed their cheques bounced and that they now face financial ruin.
Attorney-general Alecos Markides has clarified that Athanassiou is being accused of committing a criminal offence and not of breaking the law on the stock market.
Markides said that in 500 different cases companies that failed to enter the CSE had not returned investors’ money. The companies in question would not be allowed to enter the CSE, he added.
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