Filenews 28 December 2025 - by Angelos Nikolaou
A case that exposes state services and highlights the inability to enforce the law for 20 consecutive years is coming to the fore again. The diversion of the waters of the Kouris River in the community of Trimiklini for the needs of a private fish farm, combined with arbitrary constructions within protection zones, compose a scene of illegality that now concerns the Independent Anti-Corruption Authority.
According to the recent report of the Audit Office, two specific persons have been illegally intervening in state land and the public river for two decades, without the state having managed to stop their activity. The recommendation of the Service is clear: immediate termination of the intervention and taking measures to remove the phenomenon.
At the same time, the Anti-Corruption Authority in its report underlines the need for the Ministry of Interior to examine the issue in order to determine the existence of civil or criminal offenses.
Asked to comment on the issue to "F" and to list the measures taken to remove the illegality, the Minister of the Interior, Konstantinos Ioannou, sent the following detailed information, which we quote in full:
1. Department of Lands and Surveys: All applications submitted to the Department by the interventions have been examined in accordance with the legal procedure and forwarded to the Council of Ministers for study and decision-making. The Council of Ministers, at its meeting held on 17.1.2024, decided and issued relevant decisions, which were notified to the applicants, by registered mail, with the letters of the Limassol District Cadastral Officer dated 22.2.2024. For all cases related to the rejection of a request for the lease of state land and/or the granting of a right of way, as well as the termination/termination of existing Lease Agreements, the Council of Ministers gave a six-month notice from the date of notification of the decision to lift/abandon the interventions. The above six-month notice expired on 27.8.2024.
Regarding the decisions concerning the termination/termination of existing Lease Agreements, a three-month notice was given for their termination and payment of the rents due, which expired on 22.5.2024. The leases have been terminated and the outstanding amount is being claimed by legal action. With the expiration of the deadline, i.e. after 27.8.2024, an on-site investigation was carried out and after it was found that the interventions still existed, letters were prepared to the Attorney General of the Republic dated 27.9.2024, for criminal prosecution for illegal interference. No information has been received to date from the Attorney General of the Republic, regarding the filing of criminal prosecution for the illegal intervention.
Note that an investigation was carried out by criminal investigators and testimonies were given by an officer of the Limassol District Cadastral Office regarding the case. Furthermore, after the notifications of the above decisions, the applicants, through their lawyer, filed appeals before the Administrative Court, essentially challenging the correctness of the decisions of the Council of Ministers. For all appeals, reports of facts were prepared and sent to the Attorney General.
2. Limassol District Administration: In 2022, the District Administration, as the competent building authority at the time, prepared a fault report for illegal constructions, which was forwarded in the form of a complaint to the Attorney General for further handling. No information on the handling was received from the Attorney General. Since then, there has been the commencement of operation of the EOAs and the transfer of the responsibility for urban planning and building licensing to the EOA. The case file was transferred to the EOA Limassol. The Limassol District Administration does not have in mind whether measures were taken by the LIMASSOL, as the competent urban and building authority from 7/2024.
3. Department of Town Planning and Housing: On behalf of the Department, Enforcement Notices were sent in July 2022 and October 2023, a period during which the TPO was the competent Urban Planning Authority. The Enforcement Notices concerned the construction of buildings without a Planning Permit, without legal access within the Z3 urban protection zone and the protection zone of the public river. In November 2023, a letter was forwarded to the Attorney General to take legal action against the owner.
It is also noted that in October 2024, a meeting was held at the Legal Service in the presence of the Ministers of Interior and Agriculture and representatives of all the involved Services of the two Ministries, where the issue was discussed."
