Cypra files not missing, AG’s office says

No files or records on the Cypra slaughterhouse case have gone missing, the attorney-general’s office said Thursday, refuting earlier media reports.

The statement came on the back of reports claiming that records – including an administrative report regarding the relationship between the owner of Cypra and state treasurer Rea Georgiou – were lost.

Georgiou is married to the owner of the abattoir, who recently got into hot water after 92 of his staff tested positive for Covid-19. A subsequent inspection of the premises also revealed the business was paying dozens of undeclared workers.

The affair brought to the surface past allegations that Georgiou may have covered for her husband when the abattoir came under the scrutiny of the state veterinary services.

In the public sphere, Georgiou has been accused of acting against the interests of the state in one case involving Cypra.

She is said to have stopped the payment of a cheque representing a guarantee of faithful execution of an agreement after her husband’s company failed to honour a 2015 animal waste processing contract with the veterinary services.

Daily Politis said the Treasury had given instructions for the €54,000 cheque to be withdrawn immediately, just hours after it was deposited in the government account.

Regarding the matter, Georgiou later said there was a court order, which prohibited the seizure of the guarantee pending conclusion of the case.

She said the treasury, according to the constitution, is the state authority managing court orders.

Press reports say the finance minister may soon be recommending to the cabinet the launch of a disciplinary probe into allegations the abattoir got preferential treatment from public functionaries.

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.