A great deal of loose ends hang over the ‘Sandy’ affair, a prominent lawyer said on Thursday in the immediate aftermath of the police finding that the allegations published by journalist Makarios Drousiotis lacked supporting evidence.

Earlier this week the police held a news conference where they thoroughly debunked the allegations concerning the woman at the centre of the affair known as ‘Sandy’. Police chief Themistos Arnaoutis stated that an exhaustive investigation had determined the claims were unsupported by testimony, forensic findings or objective evidence.

The police also said they’ve been instructed by the attorney-general to examine whether criminal offences may have been committed in relation to “the creation, publication and public dissemination” of the material.

The matter centered on a trove of text messages with photographs, documents and audio files, originating from ‘Sandy’ and given to Drousiotis, who published them with accompanying commentary.

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All individuals named in the allegations have denied wrongdoing. Some are suing Drousiotis for defamation.

‘Sandy’ alleged that while still a teenager she was raped by former supreme court judge Michalakis Christodoulou, and that he fathered three children with her.

She further claimed to have been paid ‘hush money’ not to disclose this information. The purported amount was in the hundreds of millions of euro.

‘Sandy’ also alleged the existence of a political-judicial cabal pulling the strings in Cyprus.

In addition to having found no corroboration for her claims, the police tracked a series of inconsistencies in the text messages suggesting they were fabricated.

Attorney Achilleas Emilianides told the Cyprus Mail that, overall, the ‘Sandy’ narrative has been shown to be fake.

For instance: her alleged sexual abuse, her trip to Nice, her trip to Germany, and her employment at the presidential palace.

Despite this, he stressed, many unanswered questions remain needing clarification.

For one, the police made no reference to ‘Sandy’s’ motives.

For another, how did ‘Sandy’ obtain the mobile phone numbers of judges and access to court documents.

Also, what happened to ‘User 6’ – the individual who contacted Nicos Clerides, who briefly acted as ‘Sandy’s’ attorney.

‘User 6’ contacted Clerides on a messaging app, threatening him to keep silent. Clerides has told police that at the time he got the impression – without being sure – that ‘User 6’ may be Christodoulou.

But the police on Wednesday stated unequivocally that Christodoulou was not ‘User 6’.

However, they did not say who it was, nor did they elaborate on this point.

“It’s obvious to me the police know more than what they’ve shared so far,” Emilianides commented.

As to possible criminal liability for the dissemination of false information, the lawyer did not want to speculate at this time.

But he did say that the criminal code includes such offences as forgery, circulation of forged documents, public harm, or providing false information to authorities.

There is also the question of people’s phone numbers published in the so-called ‘Sandy files’ without their consent – a violation of personal data laws.

For the time being, it’s hard to tell how the police will proceed – they’re keeping their cards close to their chest.

Nevertheless, Drousiotis – the disseminator of the information – faces a number of lawsuits from individuals named in the ‘Sandy files’.

Already former MEP Demetris Papadakis announced he will pursue legal action against the journalist.

According to Emilianides, courts in Cyprus typically award low damages in defamation cases.

Although plaintiffs have been known to seek damages up to €2 million, the courts usually award amounts two orders of magnitude lower.