Former Minister Kougialis In Dock – Anti-Corruption Authority Investigates Land Grant In Ayia Napa
The Independent Anti-Corruption Authority has recommended criminal prosecution of former minister and is turning its attention to the grant of state land to the Church of Cyprus.
"Bombshell" Report On State Land, Church Deal And Anastasiades Property
The Independent Anti-Corruption Authority released a report yesterday recommending criminal prosecution of former minister Nikos Kougialis, formally placing him in the dock for a misdemeanour. According to Philenews, the report touches the highest echelons of the previous government and casts shadows that extend to former President Nikos Anastasiades.
At the centre of the investigation is the grant of high-value state land in Ayia Napa to the Church of Cyprus — a decision which, according to the auditors' findings, caused the public purse damage worth millions of euros. The investigation was based to a large extent on revelations by journalist Makarios Drousiotis in his book "Mafia State".
The Land Grant In Ayia Napa
On 11 July 2013, the competent Inter-Ministerial Committee recommended, as an "exceptional case", the satisfaction of a request from the Church: the grant of state land in Ayia Napa as compensation for ecclesiastical plots in Engkomi that had been expropriated. The Council of Ministers approved the recommendation on 10 October 2013.
According to Drousiotis, the matter falls within a broader framework of relations between former President Anastasiades and the late Archbishop Chrysostomos II. The Archbishop, according to the author, regularly submitted financial requests to the then President, who usually granted them.
The Germasogeia Property — Revelation Of 2014
As part of the same puzzle is presented the purchase of a residential plot of 1,739 square metres in the aristocratic Mesovounia area of Germasogeia by the wife of the former President, Andri Anastasiades. The transaction was revealed in a front-page report dated 9 April 2014 — and caused a political earthquake.
The contract was signed on 3 February 2014 between Archbishop Chrysostomos II and Andri Anastasiades, for the sum of €500,000. At the time of signing, €40,000 was paid in cash — 80 notes of €500. By 30 April 2014, a further €160,000 was to be paid, with the remaining €300,000 agreed as 75 interest-free monthly instalments of €4,000.
The purchase was deemed by valuers to be exceptionally favourable to the buyer: reputable land valuers calculated the value of the plot at €870,000 at the time, whilst in the same area plots were being sold at €650 per square metre. The property was adjacent to President Anastasiades's residence and was already being used by his security detail — a guard post operated in the space.
The transaction was conducted without the involvement of an estate agent or any third party. With the signing of the contract, the property was immediately handed over to the buyer, whilst the formal transfer by the Land Registry was set within 30 days of full payment.
The History Of The Property
In the declaration of assets published before the presidential elections in January 2013 by then-candidate Nikos Anastasiades, the neighbouring plot — measuring 982 square metres — was listed as purchased in 2002 for €100,000. The cost of construction of the 350-square-metre house was stated at €500,000. The market value at 1 January 1980 prices of the new plot amounted to €27,800.
According to Drousiotis, the purchase at such a privileged price was not unrelated to the prior government decision to grant the Church the state land filleted in Ayia Napa.
The Auditors' Findings
The findings of the Anti-Corruption Authority's inspection officers regarding the management of the state land are described as revealing: the procedure for the grant, the valuation of the land and the terms under which the Church acquired the plot in Ayia Napa raise questions about compliance with transparency rules. The report refers Nikos Kougialis for criminal prosecution of a misdemeanour in relation to these procedures.
The Church deal had first been revealed by the newspaper Phileleftheros on 9 April 2014 — a decade before the matter officially reached the Independent Anti-Corruption Authority.
Source: Philenews