TV presenter plans to sue media for slander

TELEVISION presenter Elena Skordelli said yesterday she planned to sue everyone responsible “for all the slanderous and malicious publicity” which was circulated at her expense during the investigation into the murder last week of Sigma boss Andis Hadjicostis.

Skordelli is a former employee of Sigma and several allegations were printed about her connections to the DIAS group, under which Sigma comes.

In a statement which she published herself yesterday she said: “I gave directions today to the lawyers’ office of Michalakis Kyprianou & Son that they should bring legal action suits against everyone responsible for all the slanderous and malicious publicity, which has been carried out at my expense, as much in the Greek domain as in the Cypriot, via televisual or electronic formats, in printed, televised and electronic forms of media”.

In her statement Skordelli expounds on the “detestable and hideous crime which occurred on January 11 with dearest Andy as a victim, and everything which followed on from it, with the capstone being the orgy of the sycophantic and defamatory whisperings and publicity carried out at my expense”.

Hadjicostis was shot outside his house in Engomi as he came from work on Monday January 11 at around 8.45pm. Two men on a motorbike were seen in the area at the time. Police arrested three men in connection with the killing. They were remanded by the court last Friday. An arrest warrant has been issued for a fourth suspect who police say has left the country.

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.