ALMA - Citizens for Cyprus has accused the government of risking another institutional failure over the appointment of independent criminal investigators to examine the findings of the “Mafia State” case.
The criticism follows the resignation of criminal law professor Christos Mylonopoulos from the investigative team after concerns were raised over his previous representation of businessman Michalis Zolotas in the Focus case.
ALMA said the government had initially dismissed the concerns and criticised those who raised them, only for subsequent developments to expose weaknesses in the vetting process.
The movement now claims the government is considering appointing a lawyer who currently represents Intellexa founder Tal Dilian in Greece’s Predator surveillance case. The lawyer was not named in ALMA’s statement.
According to the movement, the individual remains an active private defence lawyer and has represented clients in several high-profile cases, including a Cypriot businessman in the Tsochatzopoulos affair and Leonidas Bobolas in proceedings linked to the Koshi landfill scandal.
ALMA argued that appointing an active defence lawyer with such professional links would not provide the institutional distance required for a politically sensitive investigation.
It said investigators undertaking such work should have no continuing involvement in major corruption cases and must command confidence in their independence and neutrality.
The movement also challenged President Nikos Christodoulides’s involvement in selecting the investigators.
ALMA said Christodoulides had served as a minister under former president Nicos Anastasiades, is a witness in the case under investigation and has a political career closely associated with the former president.
“He cannot therefore present himself as the guarantor of the independence of this investigation,” the statement concluded.
