Markides: Louis probe may expand

By Hamza Hendawi

A CRIMINAL police investigation ordered last week into corruption charges linking civil servants in the ministries of communications and commerce to the Louis Group may expand to cover other departments, Attorney-general Alecos Markides said yesterday.

Markides, who ordered the investigation on Friday, also pledged that the probe would be both “thorough” and “deep”. He was speaking during a meeting he had yesterday with police investigators.

The police would issue progress reports on the investigation at regular intervals.

The police probe arose from revelations that several senior civil servants had received shares in Louis Cruise Lines, a company of the Louis Group, through the company’s private placement.

Louis has said it welcomes the investigation and maintains that it never approached any government official with an offer of shares. Those among the civil servants who chose to defend their name in public have denied any wrongdoing.

Markides said yesterday he did not believe there was any danger that those under investigation who chose to remain at their posts could influence the course of the probe.

His comments encouraged the one civil servant who had decided to take indefinite leave pending the outcome of the investigation to return to work yesterday.

The Permanent Secretary at the Communications Ministry, Vassos Pyrgos, had decided to take his leave upon hearing of the probe. But yesterday he responded to an appeal from Communications Minister Averof Neophytou, pleading with him to resume his duties in the light of Markides’ comments.

The Louis Cruise Lines’ shares, sold at 40 cents apiece, hit £3.50 on their debut in the first week of August but later fell in value when it became known that two of the company’s top executives had sold tens of thousands of shares and warrants on the first day of trade.

The listing of the company, among the world’s largest cruise operators, was touted in Cyprus as the biggest in the history of the stock exchange, but it has been embroiled in controversy since its much-heralded debut.

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.