Attorney-general Giorgos Savvides on Tuesday appointed a three-member committee of inquiry into every aspect of allegations made in connection with the Cypra slaughterhouse, which is owned by the husband of the state treasurer.
In statements to the media on Tuesday, Savvides said he had appointed Haris Poyadjis, former district court president, as the chair of the three-person committee. The two other members are former police chief Kypros Michaelides and Lemonia Kaoutsani a former district court judge.
“In recent weeks, facts, allegations and complaints concerning the Cypra slaughterhouse have come to light, and its various relations with state authorities and state officials,” the AG said.
The company welcomed the move and said it was ready to work with the committee, providing all the necessary information.
This is a very important positive development, so that the truth will be revealed, it added.
The Cypra issue first came to light in November after some 100 staff at the facility tested positive for the coronavirus. It later emerged that the majority were asylum seekers, who had not been declared to the department of social insurance. The matter gradually snowballed, revealing building code and environmental violations that were never properly addressed ostensibly due to slow bureaucratic and legal procedures.
Savvides said the investigative committee has been mandated to audit all issues related to various allegations and the exact mandate would be published in the coming days after procedural issues are sorted.
The terms of the investigation will include, but are not limited to the legality of the actions of state authorities, whether there have been any interventions by anyone for the benefit of the company concerned, whether effective control and or supervision mechanisms were in place and or exercised by the competent authorities on a case-by-case basis in relation to all transactions and liabilities, whether the findings of the investigation give rise to any evidence or facts which may lead to the imputation of liability to any person involved.
It will also look at whether there has been any leakage of classified or unregistered official documents and or information or any preferential treatment by public authorities.
The new investigative committee must submit their findings in three months from the issuance of its mandate.
Excluded from the scope of the investigation will be the issue covered by a disciplinary probe already announced by the cabinet to investigate the possible commission of disciplinary offences by the state treasurer Rea Georgiou.
The cabinet appointed the defence ministry’s permanent secretary, Andreas Louca, to investigate allegations that Georgiou stopped a cheque deposited by her husband’s company as guarantee of faithful execution of an agreement with the government, just hours after it was deposited in the government account.
The €54,000 cheque was deposited after Cypra failed to honour a 2015 animal waste processing contract with the veterinary services. Georgiou had denied any wrongdoing and said there was a court order which prohibited the seizure of the guarantee pending conclusion of the case and that the treasury, according to the constitution, is the state authority managing court orders.
She also said that at the time, to avoid any actions that would suggest conflict of interest, she had recused herself from the process.