There is no cover-up whatsoever in the "Black Van" case, Attorney General Giorgos Savvidis stressed in the most categorical terms, explaining that in the Anti-Corruption Authority's letter of 16 July, none of the fields the Authority had set out to investigate made even the slightest reference to the Legal Service or its handling of the matter.
Speaking yesterday as a guest on Politis's POLcast, Attorney General Giorgos Savvidis categorically rejected any suggestion of a cover-up in the Black Van matter, stressing that the Anti-Corruption Authority's decision not to proceed with an investigation into the case was entirely its own. He also made clear that the question of investigating a conflict of interest involving Deputy Attorney General Savvas Angelides was never raised, since no such matter was included in the exchange of letters between the Legal Service and the Anti-Corruption Authority.
"As for Odysseas Michaelides's call on the President to dismiss the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General, Savvidis said he does not frame it as a dispute from the past, concluding curtly: 'I'm no longer dealing with Odysseas."
As far as the Legal Service is concerned, the Black Van case is considered closed, Savvidis said, explaining that the investigation began under his predecessor, former Attorney General Costas Clerides, who also appointed Elias Stefanou as independent criminal investigator. Once the investigations were completed, he noted, the case was filed in court, covering various offences. Subsequently, he added, a decision was taken to suspend certain prosecutions, and the company involved had made admissions for which it was fined. The Legal Service, he stressed, explained its reasoning in detail at the time.
There was no evidence of sufficient quality and weight to lead to a conviction, Savvidis said. Beyond considerations of public interest, he added, the then Attorney General had also pointed to the complexity of substantiating the case in court, and noted that three separate laboratories, in Cyprus and abroad, which examined the device, found no evidence of content surveillance. Not all types of evidence, he stressed, are admissible in court.
The role of the Attorney General derives from the Constitution, which grants him the exclusive and unreviewable authority to decide whether to proceed with or discontinue any criminal prosecution. The remit of the Anti-Corruption Authority, by contrast, is defined by law.
Responding to party criticism
The Attorney General was also asked to respond to criticism from AKEL and ALMA, who have accused him of abuse of power and covering up the Black Van case. Savvidis responded that the alleged abuse of power attributed to the Legal Service would effectively mean "that we ourselves decided to shut down an investigation into ourselves. None of the fields the Independent Anti-Corruption Authority was examining made any reference to the Legal Service or to how it handled the matter."
Regarding Odysseas Michaelides's call on the President to dismiss the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General, Savvidis said tersely that he does not regard the matter as a dispute from the past, concluding curtly: "I'm no longer dealing with Odysseas."
