The government intends to appoint not just one, but multiple independent investigators to evaluate the findings reached by the anti-corruption authority during its own probe into the book, Mafia State, which concluded, among other things, that former president Nicos Anastasiades may be criminally liable for abuse of power.
“What was decided, of course, following the initial intention, which was announced last week, is the intention to appoint a team of criminal investigators, so more than one person, as soon as possible, with the selection of suitable persons,” government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said.
He added that “decisions will be made as soon as possible” and that those decisions “will certainly be announced” by the government.
Regarding the qualifications of those who will be appointed to investigate the matter, he said that this “is something that is always evaluated in relation to the duties they will have under the provisions of the law”.
Then asked whether the investigators will be Cypriot or not, he said, “we are not ruling anything out”.
He was also asked whether the government has contacted attorney-general George Savvides over the matter after Savvides recused himself from any further investigation last week, and said that “at this stage, and in accordance with the provisions of the law, this is a competence, a power, of cabinet”.
Following on from this, he was asked who, if not Savvides, will act as the state’s legal advisor in the case, and answered that “we should always keep in mind the separation of powers”.
“These are issues which concern the legal service. From what I have been informed from the legal service’s announcement, the prosecutorial council has been established. Furthermore, in accordance with the course of the investigations, once the criminal investigators have been appointed, they will make the decisions,” he said.
He was then asked about the pace at which the next steps will proceed, and said that “precisely because we must approach these issues seriously … I think that the persons who will make up this group of independent criminal investigators should be selected after a thorough study regarding qualifications, adequacy, and the absence of any conflict of interest”.
As such, he said, “this should be done after a serious study, and once this study is completed, of course, the priority is to appoint them as soon as possible”.
“I think, however that what should concern us is that the investigations touch all of what is contained in the report, about which I have been informed by the media, so that through this work, society’s trust in the institutions is restored,” he said.
Later, police chief Themistos Arnaoutis said that the police are now “waiting to help with anything that is needed” and “on standby” pending the government’s appointment of independent investigators.
“We still have [the report] in our hands and are awaiting instructions on the procedure to be followed. The police’s assistance will certainly be very important,” he said.
Mafia State was first published by Anastasiades’ former aide and journalist Makarios Drousiotis in 2022, with the anti-corruption authority launching an investigation into its findings the following year, after former Greek Cypriot chief negotiator for the Cyprus problem and then presidential candidate Andreas Mavroyiannis had written to them.
The anti-corruption authority’s investigation into its findings began in 2024. In total, 150 people were interviewed across 200 sessions, with no fewer than 793 pieces of evidence being submitted during the course of the investigation.
