Anti-corruption authority says Angelides was always within black van inquiry
The anti-corruption authority said deputy attorney-general Savvas Angelides was included in its expanded investigation into the black van surveillance case.
Nicosia, Cyprus. The anti-corruption authority said on Tuesday that deputy attorney-general Savvas Angelides had always been within the scope of its expanded investigation into the “black van” surveillance case, disputing an account attributed to attorney-general George Savvides.
The authority said its own-initiative inquiry would cover all aspects of the case, including any possible conflict of interest involving Angelides.
July meeting
The dispute concerns a meeting held on July 29 at the Law Office of the Republic headquarters. The authority said it made clear during the meeting that its investigation would examine all aspects of the case, including any conflict of interest involving Angelides.
According to the authority, Angelides left the meeting when it became apparent that the investigation would also concern him personally.
It said that from that point, “if not earlier”, its intention to examine Angelides’s role was known to the legal service.
Correspondence with the legal service
The authority said that when Savvides wrote on July 30 that all matters it wished to investigate had already been examined, this “reasonably created the impression” that the issue concerning Angelides was included in that assurance.
The clarification followed statements attributed to Savvides suggesting that the authority had not specifically raised the legal service’s handling of the case or Angelides’s potential conflict of interest.
The authority rejected that characterisation, referring to a July 16 letter in which it had set out, in general terms, its intention to widen the inquiry.
2023 complaint
The case stems from a 2023 complaint alleging links between Angelides, his former law firm and companies in which his brother held shares.
The complaint alleges that a company associated with the firm provided secretarial services to businesses said to have been involved in the Predator surveillance affair in Greece.
It also refers to changes in corporate ownership linking companies associated with Angelides’s brother and Israeli businessman Avraam Shahak Avni.
This news item was generated automatically by Cyprus Inform from publicly available materials. Report an error →