Authorities disclosed there was a specific direction to their investigation on hybrid operations against the Republic of Cyprus and following Attorney General instructions, were moving both on the home front and sources abroad, following the publication of the video alluding to shady election funding by President Christodoulides.
AG Savvides and Assistant AG Angelides met this morning with police chief Themistos Arnaoutis for an investigation briefing as well as discussing next steps, with the Legal Service having already instructed the CID to look into content both in terms of hybrid activity as well as the possibility of criminal offences.
Arnaoutis updated the Legal Service on measures taken following the uploading of the video on January 8th, in Cyprus and abroad, so the Attorney General can consider next steps.
Meanwhile, talking to the Cyprus News Agency, press spokesperson Vyron Vyronos said that police were not hovering in the dark, but there was specific direction to their investigation which could not be disclosed, as events were still unfolding.
'This is a highly difficult and serious case', he added, noting that the video is currently being broken down frame by frame to establish authenticity and ascertain any editing or splicing, while the authenticity of the X account that published it is also being looked into, including where it was uploaded from and how.
Police are also considering the Yiorgos Lakkotrypis interview and examining documents he has submitted. Charalambos Charalambous, former Director of the President's Office, also gave testimony before he resigned, as he disclosed himself.
'Additional testimony is expected', Vyronos noted, without going into details on how many and who will be coming in.
He stressed that authorities will be providing more information when the case becomes clearer, as anything they say now might pose the danger of creating issues with the investigation or directing attention somewhere else.
SOURCE-CNA