Roundup: Cyprus's Deputy Attorney General to be investigated for corruption

Cyprus's Deputy Attorney General Rikkos Erotokritou will be investigated for graft on the basis of the findings of an independent criminal investigator, his boss said on Tuesday.

Attorney General Costas Clerides said a police criminal investigation will be initiated against Erotokritou, following a report suggesting that he was involved in an exchange of favors with a law office in 2013.

Erotokritou dismissed the suggestion saying that the allegations were a conspiracy by the "economic establishment" for his investigations into wrongful economic deals.

"Certainly I'll not resign and I'll report regularly to my office to perform my duties," he said.

He also called for an investigation against the Attorney General for stopping a criminal prosecution Erotokritou had ordered, which is at the center of the charges against him.

The Attorney General, citing from a report by former High Court judge Panayiotis Kallis in his capacity as a criminal investigator, said Erotokritou was bribed by a law office in 2013, in exchange for ordering the prosecution of several Russian nationals who were in litigation over the assets of an offshore company, called Providencia, which was represented by the law office.

The stake in the litigation, which is still pending, is an amount of between 250 million and 300 million euros.

According to the Kallis report, the law office made Erotokritou a favor by failing to appear in court on behalf of now defunct Laiki Bank, thus allowing a court order to be issued balancing Erotokritou's loan's amounting to about 515,000 euros against the money he lost when the bank was closed down in the 2013 resolution of the Cypriot banking system.

The balancing was subsequently overturned on appeal by Laiki on the directions of the Central Bank of Cyprus.

Laiki was wound down in March 2013, as part of a 10-billion-euro bailout of Cyprus, which also involved the world's first 'bail-in', the recapitalization of a bank by seizing 47.5 percent of deposits over 100,000 euros.

Clerides said the charge of graft by a public officer is punishable with a jail sentence of 7 years and the charge of receiving a bribe by a 2-year imprisonment.

But he said the finding of the Kallis report was only his own view and was not binding on any further criminal investigation.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades stepped into the case expressing deep sorrow at the situation at the Attorney General's office. He issued a statement announcing that the Council of Ministers will consider on Wednesday appointing a team of criminal investigators to probe the whole case. Endit