The "Sandi" case: Key woman witness breaks silence and denies extortion or bribery
The central witness in the "Sandi" case publicly states she was not extorted and was not bribed. She is calling for a technical examination of messages via devices belonging to Makarios Drousiotis.
"I was not extorted, I was not used" — "Sandi" speaks publicly for the first time
The woman at the centre of the high-profile "Sandi" case has broken her silence with a written statement released through journalist Manolis Kalatzi and Cyprus Times, according to Philenews. In it, she categorically denies that she was extorted, used, or bribed to give the testimony she provided to the Police.
"I am not writing this text to ask anyone to justify me," she states. "I am writing it because for a long time my side has not been heard as I truly experienced it."
How she "took on the role"
"Sandi" admits that her involvement began as a result of her own choices, through discussions with lawyer Nikos Klerides. "At first it was a conversation. Then came the questions. The answers brought new questions and, at some point, I began to step into a role. The role of 'Sandi'," she writes.
She clarifies, however, that acknowledging her own involvement does not amount to accepting "every version, every interpretation and every fact that was added later." According to her account, this role was created gradually, without it always being clear where reality ended and invention began, with the result that she struggled to detach herself from subsequent developments.
"I am not using any characterisation as a diagnosis nor as an excuse. I am simply trying to describe how a person can be drawn into a role and struggle, as time passes, to exit it," she states.
Contact with Orphanidis and Drousiotis
According to her statement, as cited by Philenews, the first contact with journalist Stelios Orphanidis took place in 2020, following actions by Nikos Klerides. Subsequently, contact with Makarios Drousiotis emerged and their meeting on 26 April 2023, at a café in the Mall of Cyprus.
Her objective that evening, she writes, was to hear what the journalist knew. "I wanted to go to the meeting and listen. To understand what this person knew." From the impression she formed, Drousiotis had already formed a view on the case. "I did not feel that I was revealing an unknown case to him," she notes.
She also cites a public statement by Stelios Orphanidis, according to which he met Drousiotis in Athens in 2023 and told him about the investigation he had begun. According to her account, Drousiotis reportedly stated at that time that he too was in contact with a woman with the same story. "Sandi" uses this particular incident to argue that the case had acquired momentum beyond her own contacts. "I do not accept the version that all the evidence later presented as the basis of the case originated from me," she emphasises.
The missing mobile phone and request for technical examination
Regarding the disputed messages, "Sandi" states that the mobile telephone she was using during that period has been lost and therefore cannot be handed over for technical examination. She believes, however, that the path of the messages can still be investigated via the device and accounts of Makarios Drousiotis.
She poses specific questions: "Where did the messages come from, when were they sent, via which number or account and in what manner did they reach the journalist?" She is requesting that this data be examined by an independent expert in every lawful way.
She also directs a question directly to Drousiotis: "Is Mr Drousiotis willing to permit an independent and lawful technical examination of the available data from his device and relevant accounts, solely as regards the path of the specific messages to him?"
"I am asking for the path of the messages to be traced and we should let the available data speak," she concludes on this point.
After the meeting — and the public revelation
After the meeting with Drousiotis, "Sandi" changed her mobile telephone and withdrew from the case, believing the story had ended. She could not, as she writes, have foreseen the dimensions it would take.
The case came to public light on 31 March 2026, via a post by Makarios Drousiotis. "For me it was a shocking moment. Because suddenly I was no longer simply a person who had been involved in a private story. I had become the public face of a case that everyone was now discussing," she states.
She argues that from that point onwards an image was created around her disproportionately larger than what she had actually done. She is not asking for her involvement to be erased, but for actions, information and intentions that were not hers to not be attributed to her.
On 2 April 2026, two days after the public revelation, she came to the Police and gave a written statement. She rejects speculation that this decision was motivated by the protection of a third party or the organised targeting of any of those involved.
Source: Philenews