Nicosia, Cyprus. Attorney-general Giorgos Savvides has told MPs that neither special investigator Andreas Paschalides nor police officers may answer questions during Friday’s planned parliamentary discussion on the Videogate affair. He also said the investigative dossier will not be handed to parliament while his office assesses whether criminal offences were committed.
Extraordinary ethics committee session
The House ethics committee is due to convene in an extraordinary session, with MPs intending to raise questions they say remained unanswered following Paschalides’ statement on his findings.
Last week, Paschalides released a summary of his investigation into the Videogate affair, which concerns a video published online in January that appeared to show influence peddling by associates of President Nikos Christodoulides.
Those summoned before the committee include Paschalides, officials from the attorney-general’s office, senior police officials, a representative of the justice minister, the head of the anti-corruption authority, Under-Secretary to the President Irini Piki and an attorney for Black Cube, the private intelligence firm that produced the video.
Dossier will not be disclosed
In a letter to parliament on Tuesday, Savvides said there were legal and case-law-based reasons preventing the presentation of the dossier or disclosure of its contents.
He said the dossier is now held by the attorney-general’s office, which is assessing whether any criminal offences were committed.
“The criminal investigation is still ongoing,” Savvides said. “For part of it, the investigative work has not been completed, while for another part of it an assessment is pending as well as a decision by the attorney-general’s office.”
