Former deputy attorney-general Loukis Loucaides on Monday called his indictment for financial embezzlement “a malicious conspiracy” against him, insisting he did nothing wrong.

Loucaides – who served as deputy AG from 1975 to 1998, and later as a judge at the European Court of Human Rights – confirmed that a criminal prosecution has been filed against him.

The case will be heard at Limassol criminal court, with the first hearing scheduled for September 14.

It concerns a complaint filed by the administrator of an estate belonging to a now-deceased woman. The complaint to the police was filed in July 2025.

Loucaides is accused of not transferring to the estate’s administrator the amount of €177,000 – compensation paid by Limassol municipality for the expropriation of the deceased woman’s house.

The house was demolished to make way for a road.

Loucaides was acting as the administrator’s lawyer in the matter.

But the former judge insists he broke no law.

“It’s a malicious indictment, and behind it there’s a conspiracy,” he told the Cyprus News Agency.

“There is no crime on my part.”

Giving his version of events, Loucaides said the case dates back to 2008, when he was assigned by the then administrator of the estate to sue Limassol municipality over the expropriation.

The municipality had failed to compensate for the expropriation.

Initially a district court dismissed the lawsuit. But Loucaides later appealed the decision. The appeals court ordered the municipality to settle the matter out-of-court. Loucaides himself undertook to negotiate on behalf of his client.

“I went to Limassol, we negotiated. The only person I knew from this case was the estate administrator, who assigned me the case.”

After a settlement amount was agreed, Loucaides said, he received the money with the intention of handing it over to his client.

However, in the meantime that person was no longer the estate administrator, and Loucaides claims he did not know how to contact him – he had no phone number or address.

“I tried to locate him. I didn’t have his phone number. Nor could I track him down.”

According to Loucaides, he waited for years, but no one came forward.

The situation remained unchanged until 2025, when a new estate administrator was appointed. Loucaides said he was contacted via an attorney and instructed to transfer the money.

“I would gladly give it, I answered them in a letter. Let’s get together, sort it out. So many years had passed, and no one was interested.

“But I got no answer.”

Instead of receiving a response from the new administrator, he said, the police began an investigation.

He was summoned to give a written statement.

Loucaides also said he offered to transfer the money in instalments.

The former judge spoke of an effort to tarnish his reputation.