The first meeting of the Cypra slaughterhouse investigation, which will also probe related companies and individuals, will take place on February 12, it emerged on Friday.

According to a statement by the three-member committee, it will meet next Friday at the former Filoxenia hotel.

Cypra slaughterhouse caused a scandal after it recorded 92 Covid-19 cases. Investigations revealed 79 workers were asylum seekers without work permits. Police had told the Cyprus Mail they issued a €3,500 fine for each undeclared worker employed over the last seven months at the company.

The first witness before the committee will be Akel MP Irini Charalambidou while Greens MP Giorgos Perdikis will be next. Perdikis had accused the slaughterhouse of unacceptable living conditions for workers and suggested the owner, the husband of state treasurer Rea Georgiou, has connections that allow him to get away with illegal acts, citing illegal infrastructures at the facilities.

The meeting will be open to the public however the maximum number of people allowed in is 25 and priority will be given to interested parties, their lawyers and journalists.

Rea Georgiou has denied any wrongdoing. Her brother is the auditor of her husband’s companies, which prompted a further allegation of conflict of interest as she also sits on the public audit oversight board.

The committee probing the slaughterhouse was sworn in on January 7 to conduct a full and thorough investigation into Cypra Ltd, Cypra Bioenergy Ltd and other affiliated companies and their directors and shareholders in relation to the transactions and/ or the treatment by any authority, body or state official from 2007 to December 31, 2020.