AL JAZEERA REVELATIONS - PRESSURE ON QATARIS TO TESTIFY

 Filenews 22 October 2020 - by Michalis Hatzivasilis

After receiving testimony from the British real estate agent about Al Jazeera's revelations about the gold passports and the involvement of the resigned Speaker of the House Dimitris Syllouris, the resigned MP Christakis Giovanis and the lawyer Andreas Pitatzis, investigators are focusing the burden of investigations on the Qatari network.

Information from "F" indicates that contacts are being made with the channel so that its two journalists who came to Cyprus and acted under cover, recording conversations with the three above and others, now come to give statements. The two, according to the same information, have not yet expressed their intentions whether they wish to come or not. The contacts continue, since the investigators acting under the guidance of the Legal Service, want at all costs to turn into testimony what is said in the video. That is to say, to give statements about the distributed, while the possibility of the video being filed as a presumption will also be considered.

Information from the "F" indicates that with the material that the investigators of the Police Headquarters have managed to collect so far, the background for committing offences is born and actions will continue to strengthen the testimony. In fact, developments are not excluded next week, and the next moves of the examiners are the receipt of important documents related to the serious case under consideration. Several files of naturalized cases involving the Giovanni group have already been received by the Interior Ministry to investigate how Cypriot nationalities are granted through investments.

As "F" wrote yesterday, the British real estate agent working with the Giovanni group gave a two-day statement to investigators and expressed his willingness to assist in the investigations.

In the meantime, the services of a total of 40 associates, lawyers, accountants and economists, are requested by the Research Committee of the exceptional naturalists of foreign investors and entrepreneurs, in order to carry out the work of investigating the natural ographies given under the Cyprus Investment Programme (JEP) from 2007 to mid-August of this year. The 4-member Commission, under the former President of the Supreme Court Myron Nikolato, launched a tender for the hire of services of 40 persons, with the above qualifications for a period of six weeks for a total amount of €182,000, plus VAT, with the right to extend the period for another three weeks.

It is recalled that the investigative committee has a three-month timetable, with the Attorney General having the right to grant an extension in order to investigate natural registrations that have taken place since the JEP began in 2007 until 17 August 2020, the date of publication of the new legislative framework. The Commission was set up by the Attorney General on a recommendation from the Council of Ministers. According to the tender documents, the requested services include conducting a survey, data study and examination of 16 to 20 bundles of dossiers per week and recording findings and reporting results.