THE power of attorney signed by the electricity authority (EAC) pension fund authorised a top financier to sell the EAC buildings and electricity poles, his lawyer said yesterday.
It was the third time police presented Yiannos Andronikou to court requesting the renewal of his remand for eight days, in connection with around £9 million that went missing from the EAC pension fund’s portfolio, which had been entrusted to the suspect’s company, Suphire.
He is also suspected in connection with the disappearance of around £200,000 from the portfolio of the Forest Industries.
Andronikou has been in custody for the past two weeks.
The hearing yesterday lasted for well over three hours, prompting the judge to reserve his decision until today at 8am.
George Georgiou, defending, suggested that police were asking for a third remand order under political pressure.
“Courts can’t keep people in custody because politicians want to score political points,” Georgiou said.
He put it to the police investigator that the power of attorney that the EAC had signed practically authorised his client to sell the authority’s buildings and electricity poles.
Police told the court that the company’s software was able to prepare clients’ portfolio reports in different forms.
But chief inspector Ioannis Kelepeshis countered that when compared, there were substantial discrepancies between two same date reports of the EAC portfolio.
The court heard that police had also confirmed the discrepancies in the movement of shares, between the company’s reports to the EAC and the stock market (CSE) archives.
Andronikou has given a 60-page statement on two separate occasions, when he testified for 11 and seven hours respectively, police said.
The court heard that the data on two of three computer discs handed over to the Securities and Exchange Commission by the company had been altered and could not be read.
Police said they were trying to retrieve the hard disc of a computer that was seized from the company offices, along with other computers and documents.
It is thought that the disc contained important evidence in relation to the case.
The hard disc had been removed before its confiscation, the court heard.
A substantial number of computer archives has also been deleted before their seizure.
A finance expert aiding the investigation discovered that amounts received from the sale of shares from the EAC portfolio were not deposited in the appropriate accounts, and efforts were under way to discover there whereabouts.
Kelepeshis told the court that the suspect has altered portfolio reports at least four times, claiming he was going to buy share packages, which he never did.
He had also give instructions that those changes be included in the reports presented by his company to the pension fund’s managing committee, Kelepeshis said.
The same was done in relation with the Forestry Industries portfolio: large share packages were added, which he had not bought at the time the report was presented.
His defence argued that the power of attorney he had received in order to simplify procedures authorised him to carry out all the transactions.
But Kelepeshis countered that Andronikou, among other things, had also sold shares that were non-negotiable under the agreement with the pension fund committee.
The case was reported to authorities by the EAC and the Forest Industries on March 15, and March 17, respectively.
The court heard that Andronikou appeared six times before the pension fund committee, between December 2, 2003 and September 14, 2004.
In each case he presented the members with transaction reports, which always showed positive results.
The results were again positive in two reports given to the committee in October and November 2004, police said.
