Attorney-General George Savvides issued a direct rebuttal on Tuesday to the anti-corruption authority’s claim that his deputy, Savvas Angelides, had always fallen within the scope of the spy van investigation, challenging the authority to make its own letter public in full.

The anti-corruption authority’s statement had in turn disputed an account given earlier by Savvides.

The disagreement stems from a meeting held on July 29 at the legal services, at which the authority said it made clear that the inquiry, launched of its own initiative, would cover “all aspects” of the case, including any conflict of interest involving Angelides.

According to the authority, Angelides left the meeting once it became apparent that the investigation would also concern him personally.

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The authority said that from that point, “if not earlier”, its intention to examine Angelides’ role was known to the legal service.

It added that when Savvides wrote the following day, on July 30, stating that everything the authority wished to investigate had already been examined, this “reasonably created the impression” that the matter of Angelides was included in that assurance.

The clarification follows statements attributed to Savvides suggesting the authority had not specifically raised the legal service’s handling of the case or Angelides’ potential conflict of interest.

The authority rejected that characterisation, pointing to a letter it sent on July 16 setting out, in general terms, its intentions to widen the inquiry.

Legal service’s handling of the case

Savvides said the letter did not record the authority’s intentions “in a general manner,” as the authority’s own announcement claimed, but instead set out “the exact, detailed and precise terms of reference” to be given to the investigators who began work on August 3.

He said it contained no reference to the legal service’s handling of the case, and invited the authority to declassify the letter in full, to prove its position.

Savvides also said his own letter of July 30, sent in response to the authority’s terms of reference, addressed each point raised and set out the outcome of the investigation into every matter listed, adding that it contained no reference to any investigation of Angelides.

“I wonder how the authority understood that my letter meant or implied that the deputy attorney general was being investigated,” he remarked, commenting that in previous cases where the authority intended to investigate complaints against Angelides, this had been stated explicitly.

He further questioned how the authority concluded that the police investigation and that of the independent criminal investigator covered complaints against Angelides filed in 2023, when the original spy van investigation had already been completed in 2021.

Rampant institutional corruption and collusion

Akel said the back and forth highlights “rampant institutional corruption and collusion” under the previous government and accused the legal service of “stubbornly covering up” the affair.

The party called on both Savvides and Angelides to “assume responsibility for the decisions and actions of the legal service,” adding that “if they cannot ensure that the case is investigated independently, fully and without interference, then they must resign.”

Akel said it would raise the matter again in parliament and called for the case to be reopened as well for the findings of investigator Elias Stefanos to be made public.

The case originates from a 2023 complaint alleging links between Angelides, his former law firm and companies in which his brother held shares.

The complaint claims a company associated with the firm provided secretarial services to businesses said to have been involved in the Predator surveillance affair in Greece.

It also points to changes in corporate ownership connecting companies linked to Angelides’ brother and Israeli businessman Avraam Shahak Avni.

One company named in the complaint was struck from the Cyprus companies register two days after Angelides issued a public statement in August 2022 rejecting the allegations against him.

The spy van affair dates to 2019, when police began investigating WiSpear after its then chief executive, Tal Dilian, publicly promoted surveillance equipment fitted inside a converted vehicle.

Criminal proceedings against Dilian and two co-defendants were suspended in November 2021 by Savvides.

WiSpear Systems later pleaded guilty to data protection breaches and was fined €76,000.