Probe ordered against Cypriot senior attorney

NICOSIA, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Cypriot government has ordered a probe into allegations that a senior attorney in the Legal Service had offered private advice and information to Russian colleagues, an official said on Wednesday.

Deputy government spokesman Victor Papadopoulos said that the Council of Ministers appointed a senior official to investigate allegations that Eleni Loizidou, senior attorney in the Legal Service after Attorney General, had overstepped the limits of her duties in communications with a senior Russian attorney.

Loizidou was in charge of the department handling extradition requests and applications for judicial assistance, but the Attorney General ordered her transfer on Tuesday to another department.

Publication of emails sent and received through her private email account, instead of through the official email service, has caused a sensation as it came in the heels of a Russian foreign ministry statement criticizing the Cypriot government of delaying an investigation into the alleged improper acquisition of Gasprom shares worth billions of dollars by businessman Bill Browder.

Russia accuses Browder, who co-founded Hermitage Capital, of fraud in acquiring the shares.

The Cypriot government replied that the delay in the investigation had been ordered by a court after an appeal by Browder who claimed that the investigation had been politically motivated.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades gave further explanations in person when he visited Moscow late in October.

The Cypriot police said on Wednesday that they have initiated a criminal investigation into the hacking of Loizidou's email and the publication of her private communications. Enditem