Filenews 10 October 2022 - by Fanis Makridis
The Attorney General, Giorgos Savvidis and the Assistant Attorney General, Savvas Angelidis, according to official information of which we succeeded, on Friday (7/10) had a meeting with senior police officers in relation to the naturalization chapter, in the context of the meetings established for better coordination. Information indicated that there will soon be developments with some of these cases.
Two other cases have taken the courts, in addition to that of the Egyptian Salem family. One concerns the naturalization of Jordanian businessman Almi Hilmi Munib Armoush, Zaineh Ali Himli Armoush, Nikolay Gornovskiy and the case of the alleged Chinese investor with the criminal record, as presented in a report by Al Jazeera. The other has to do with the Iranian Mehdi Ebrahimi Eshratabadi, who was Cypriotized under the name Ofny Newman.
As far as the first case is concerned, the defendants are the former President of the Parliament Dimitris Syllouris, the former MP Christakis Giovannis, the director of a company of interests of the latter, Antonis Antoniou and the lawyer Andreas Pittatzis.
On September 12 (2022), in proceedings before the District Court of Nicosia, the case was referred to the Permanent Assize Court of Nicosia for the 26th of October next. The charges are five and concern offences of corruption (trafficking in influence) and conspiracy to defraud. The first category includes Syllouris and Giovanni in relation to Almi Hilmi Munib Armoush and the other two categories of Syllouris, Giovannis and Pittatzis in relation to the naturalization of Gornovskiy. The indictment also includes the names of companies linked to the defendants. The director of a company of interests of Hr. Giovanni, Antonis Antoniou, is charged in the case of the alleged investor (4th and 5th category) with the remaining three.
As for the case of the Iranian Mehdi Ebrahimi Eshratabadi, the hearing has been completed and the Permanent Assize Court of Larnaca - Famagusta will announce its decision on November 4th. Two executives of the law firm Haris Kyriakidis LLC (C. K., M. K.) are accused, as well as three other persons related to the services for naturalization (V. D., E. K., P. I.).
The three corporate entities included in the indictment are NEWMAN HOLDINGS LTD, SCALENS TRUSTEES LTD and SCALENS LTD. Those involved in naturalization are charged with the offenses of conspiracy to defraud the Republic, forgery, obtaining registration with false representations and money laundering.
