Former deputy attorney-general to answer charges in Limassol court on October 20

Limassol, Cyprus. Former deputy attorney-general Loukis Loucaides is due to answer two charges at the Limassol permanent criminal court on October 20, after the case was adjourned for more than a month on Monday.

Loucaides faces charges of theft by proxy and money laundering relating to €177,108.12 in compensation paid for the expropriation of a deceased woman’s property. He has rejected the allegations.

Court proceedings

Loucaides appeared in the dock when the case was listed before the court.

His lawyer, Christos Pourgourides, requested time to respond to the charges, saying he was awaiting a reply from Attorney-General George Savvides to a request for the case to be referred for trial before the district court.

The prosecution requested that Loucaides sign bail of €50,000. The court set the next hearing for October 20.

Allegations

The complaint was filed in July last year by the administrator of the deceased woman’s estate.

According to the allegation, Loucaides received €177,108.12 from Limassol municipality as compensation for the expropriation but did not transfer the amount to the estate administrator.

Loucaides’ response

Loucaides served as deputy attorney-general from 1975 to 1998 and later as a judge at the European Court of Human Rights.

He has described the indictment as “malicious” and said that “there is no crime on [his] part.”

Loucaides has said the matter dates to 2008, when the estate’s then administrator assigned him to sue the municipality over the expropriation. He said the municipality had not compensated for the demolition of the woman’s house to make way for a road.