Roundup: Cyprus' Attorney General to indict deputy for graft

Costas Clerides, Cyprus' Attorney General, will indict his deputy on graft charges, he said on Wednesday.

Clerides said on Tuesday that he would initiate a criminal investigation against Deputy Attorney General Rikkos Erotokritou to further probe the findings of a special criminal investigator.

But Clerides seems to have changed his mind and decided to immediately commit his deputy to trial by a three-judge Assize Court without further investigation, after President Anastasiades made moves to step into the case.

Anastasiades said he would suggest to his Council of Ministers to appoint an investigator to probe allegations made by Erotokritou against the Attorney General and other unnamed state officers.

The Deputy Attorney General accused his boss of improperly terminating the prosecution of the Russian brothers at the instigation of their lawyers.

He also accused him and other state officers of delaying probes into banking scandals which brought down the Cypriot banking system

The Attorney General reacted with wrath to the president's intention to order a probe into the claims. He issued an unprecedented statement attacking Anastasiades in unusually strong terms, accusing him of undermining legal order.

"All legal and constitutional procedures are followed with devoutness and finally the accused turn into accusers with the backing and fomentation of the highest officer of the state. It is a shame," said Clerides in his statement.

After facing strong criticism by opposition parties, President Anastasiades retracted his statement that he would seek the appointment of investigators to probe Erotokritou's allegation.

He also assured the Attorney General in a letter that it was not his intention to cause a rift between them and suggested that the investigator be appointed by Clerides.

But the Attorney General turned down the suggestion, though he left a small crack to mend his relations with the President. He said that Erotokritou's claims could be heard in court.

"Given that his indictment will be initiated immediately on existing findings, Erotokritous claims can be raised and be examined by the trial court," said Clerides in a reply letter to the president.

Erotokritou stands to face a prison sentence of up to seven years, if found guilty on charges of being a corrupt official.

Clerides said on Tuesday that based on the findings of a probe by a former High Court judge he had concluded that Erotokritou was bribed by the law office of Andreas Neocleous, one of the biggest law firms representing hundreds of offshore companies, among them many belonging to Russian oligarchs.

He claimed Erotokritou acted on corrupt motives and improperly ordered the prosecution of two Russian brothers who were in litigation with their under-aged half-blood sister, over the assets of an offshore company, called Providencia, which was represented by the Neocleous law office.

The stake in the court case between the two brothers and their half-blood sister, which is still pending, is an amount of between 250 million euros (265 million U.S. dollars) and 300 million euros.

Clerides said the Neocleous law office bribed Erotokritou by failing to appear in court on behalf of the now defunct Laiki Bank, thus facilitating a court order to be issued balancing Erotokritou's loans against the money he lost when the bank was closed down in the 2013 resolution of the Cypriot banking system.

He stood to gain about 515,000 euros but the court's decision was overturned on appeal. Endit