Journalist Makarios Drousiotis faces legal scrutiny after police concluded on Wednesday that allegations levied in the ‘Sandy’ case were unsubstantiated and that the legal service will now assess potential criminal offences regarding both the creation and dissemination of false material.

According to sources close to the investigation, authorities are examining possible legal action against Drousiotis, with police expected to seek prosecutorial guidance in the coming days and before the Anti-Corruption Authority publishes its findings into separate allegations Drousiotis has made in his book on former President Nicos Anastasiades, Mafia State, on June 15.

The police have outright rejected Drousiotis’ extensive allegations involving sexual abuse, corruption, blackmail, surveillance and a nefarious cabal operating esoterically within state institutions, concluding that the material examined by investigators was unsupported by witness testimony, forensic evidence and official records.

Police chief Themistos Arnaoutis said investigators found no evidence to substantiate the allegations made against public officials and other individuals named in the case.

While the legal service determined that no offences were established against those accused in the allegations, police confirmed that further examination would now focus on potential offences connected to “the creation, publication and public dissemination” of the disputed material itself.

Sources familiar with the investigation indicated that police consider the inquiry largely complete and are awaiting prosecutorial directions on the next procedural steps.

Drousiotis responded to the police findings shortly after the press conference, rejecting the conclusions and accusing authorities of predetermining the outcome of the investigation.

In a social media post, he suggested attention should now turn to the forthcoming findings of the Anti-Corruption Authority’s investigation into Mafia State.

“We’ll see you after the announcements about Mafia State. That’s what’s bothering them,” he wrote.

Drousiotis himself has criticised the police investigation and dismissed the conclusions regarding the authenticity of the disputed material.

“In the end, neither Europol nor the FBI helped“, he wrote.

He further alleged that the outcome announced by police mirrored positions previously expressed by former president Nicos Anastasiades, who has repeatedly denied allegations contained in Mafia State and is pursuing legal action against the journalist.

“The outcome was identical to what Anastasiades, who still controls the system, had announced,” Drousiotis claimed.

Questioning the police findings, he argued that investigators had accepted the explanation that a single individual was responsible for creating the disputed communications and supporting material.

“Thus, a woman, without specialised knowledge, claimed that she fabricated hundreds of SMS, Viber and Signal messages with an application, with names, phone numbers and events with details that she was not able to know,” he wrote.

Drousiotis also criticised the timing of the police conclusions, arguing that investigators had finalised their findings before the publication of the Anti-Corruption Authority’s report.

“Arnaoutis was in a hurry to complete the police investigation. He did not even wait for the report, in case it spoiled the scenario,” he wrote.

The authority’s investigation into Mafia State was launched following the publication of the book, which alleges systemic corruption, abuse of power and undue influence involving former president Nicos Anastasiades and other senior officials.

Anastasiades has consistently rejected the allegations and has pursued legal action against Drousiotis.

According to authority chairman Harris Poyadjis, the inquiry has involved more than 200 meetings and hearings, the examination of over 100 witnesses in Cyprus and abroad and the review of hundreds of pieces of evidence comprising thousands of pages of documentation.

The investigation has cost the state in excess of €1 million.

Should any criminal wrongdoing be identified, the relevant material will be forwarded to attorney general, George Savvides, for further consideration.

Importantly, the authority has previously sought to draw a distinction between the Sandy affair and the Mafia State investigation.

Speaking earlier this year, Poyadjis stated that developments relating to Sandy would “in no case” affect the examination of allegations contained in Mafia State.

Nevertheless, investigators examining the Sandy allegations had already identified a series of discrepancies in material submitted as evidence before Wednesday’s police findings were announced.