POLICE on Sunday visited the Pyrga home of DIKO MEP Marios Matsakis to take a statement, after the European parliament lifted his immunity from prosecution last month.
Matsakis is currently facing two allegations, which emerged in June 2004 in Politis newspaper. The paper had published the transcripts of police tapes detailing alleged attempts by Matsakis to blackmail an Anti-Drug Squad officer, who was facing attempted manslaughter charges for the shooting of Andreas Christodoulou, alias Panthiras.
Matsakis reportedly told the officer that he would change his testimony in the case if he came up with £10,000. Yiannis Ioannou went to his superiors who told him to play along and secretly recorded conversations between the two.
During the course of the investigation, Ioannou also told police he had seen a number of antiquities at the deputy’s Pyrga home, leading to allegations that he was involved in a ring smuggling antiquities from the occupied areas.
According to Politis, Sunday’s police statement took four hours, but still left the police with a lot more questions that they want answered.
In his statement, the paper said Matsakis had denied that he had approached Ioannou. The paper added that the police had confiscated three of his 100 chests so that their age could be checked by the Antiquities’ Department.
Matsakis claims he has so many chests because he is a collector. The police initially said that the chests could have come from the north.
Police spokesman Demetris Demetriou yesterday confirmed that the police had visited Matsakis’ home but would only say that, “the investigation is ongoing.”
The lifting of his immunity allows police to investigate and prosecute Matsakis, but not to detain him or in any way prevent him from performing his duties at the European Parliament.
In the event that the proceedings lead to a request to arrest and imprison Matsakis, the authorities would again need to address the European Parliament.
A source at the European Parliament’s legal department told the Cyprus Mail that it was extremely rare, if not unheard of, for a government to address the European Parliament and demand that an MEP be handed over for arrest.
When the Cyprus Mail contacted Matsakis for comment, the MEP hung up as soon as the question was put to him.
