Nicosia, Cyprus. MP Marinos Sizopoulos will not oppose the lifting of his parliamentary immunity, with the supreme court setting March 16 to hear the attorney-general’s request for a criminal investigation to proceed. The decision was confirmed after the court heard preliminary positions from both sides.
Court proceedings and submissions timetable
Sizopoulos’ legal team told the court he intends to facilitate the administration of justice and has nothing to conceal, while rejecting all allegations under examination. His lawyer, Christos Triantafyllidis, said Sizopoulos “categorically denies the alleged offences” and has chosen not to contest the request to allow the case to be examined “without procedural obstacles”.
The legal service was represented by deputy attorney-general Savvas Angelides and public prosecutor Polina Evthyvoulou. Angelides told the court that the process fully respects the presumption of innocence and requested time to submit the prosecution’s written positions.
The six-judge panel granted both sides until March 9 to file submissions and set March 16 for the hearing.
Background and allegations
Triantafyllidis said the matter dates back to 2019, when Sizopoulos went to the police as a complainant over the same transactions now being attributed to him.
The case centres on findings published last September by the independent authority against corruption, which concluded that Sizopoulos and at least three other shareholders in the company Taxan may have committed offences including fraud, forgery, circulation of a false document and conspiracy to defraud.
According to the authority, Taxan’s shareholders sold the company’s shares to an Iraqi investor for €2 million to settle outstanding bank liabilities.
What do you think the court’s March 16 hearing will clarify about the allegations linked to Taxan’s share sale?
