Probe launched into Vgenopoulos-Christofias campaign donation leak (Update)

By Angelos Anastasiou

A police probe has been initiated into the leaking to the press of a statement by land developer Miltiades Neophytou to police investigators in March 2015, in which he claimed that a fund-raising committee set up by Demetris Christofias’ campaign for the 2008 Presidential election approved a £2 million donation by former Laiki strongman Andreas Vgenopoulos, Attorney General Costas Clerides said on Monday.

The statement was made public on the front page of daily Politis on Sunday.

In it, Neophytou claimed that he sat on the Christofias campaign’s fund-raising committee since it was formed in 2007 due to his close personal relationship with then-AKEL leader and presidential candidate.

“At the committee’s first session at AKEL’s headquarters in Nicosia, in attendance were Venizelos Zannettos, MP Stavros Evagorou, Nicos Nicolaou from the Kyprianides audit firm, and businessmen Vangelis Georgiou, Christos Tziovannis, and Nicolas Georgiades,” Neophytou said.

“Zannettos told us that the campaign would cost close to £3 million. […] After five or six weekly sessions, Vangelis Georgiou said someone wants to donate £0.5 million immediately, ultimately offering £2 million. He added that the donor was his and Stavros Evagorou’s. They wouldn’t disclose his name at first, but at our insistence they revealed he was Andreas Vgenopoulos.”

The committee, Neophytou added, decided that Christofias should be notified in person because of the size of the donation.

“The decision was that I should inform Demetris Christofias,” he said.

“Within days, I met with him and told him – his response was ‘we need the money, and we will take it’. He did not comment on Andreas Vgenopoulos.

At a subsequent session, the committee was told by Zannettos that the fund-raising target had largely been met due to Vgenopoulos’ money, and so the committee itself had become redundant.

The leaked statement prompted questions around the leaker’s identity and intentions, and the police chief ordered an internal probe.

“The team of investigators created to investigate the economic collapse is fully devoted to its mission, in collaboration and under the guidance of the Legal Service,” a police statement said.

“We condemn any leaks as unacceptable, wherever they may originate from. Everyone’s goal should be to eradicate such incidents as they never assist investigations and justice.”

Speaking on state radio on Monday, AG Clerides confirmed having instructed the police chief to order a probe to identify the source of the leak.

“This is not just a document – it is a statement given to the police,” the AG said.

“These things are unthinkable. Also, what I have noticed recently is a tendency to blame leaks on the attorney-general. This is completely unacceptable, and it goes without saying that I do not employ such tactics.”

Police spokesman Andreas Angelides said it should not be considered certain that the leak came from the police.

“In criminal investigation, many others are involved, aside from the police and the Legal Service,” he said, but declined to elaborate.

Neophytou’s claims were subsequently denied by the Greek financier.

In a statement, Vgenopoulos said such reports are unworthy of a denial, and blamed them on former deputy Attorney General Rikkos Erotokritou and lawyer Panayiotis Neocleous, who are facing charges of corruption and bribery in court.

“Reports and statements by people I do not know, which claim that ‘someone told me that the money is given by Vgenopoulos’ […] are not even worth denying,” the statement said.

“However, I must note the coincidence that the renewed smear campaign against me by [Politis publisher Yiannis] Papadopoulos comes at a time when Messrs R. Erotokritou and P. Neocleous are on trial for serious offences and have already employed the argument that ‘we were after evil Vgenopoulos, but they wouldn’t let us’.”

The Greek businessman said the attempt to paint him an AKEL sympathiser and donor fails the test of reason.

“With no shred of evidence or proof, I am being portrayed as a sympathiser and donor of AKEL, which did me no favours, and during its term in government […] destroyed Laiki Bank, the Cypriot banking system, and the Cypriot economy.”