The Audit Office confirmed on Tuesday that it has alerted EU authorities over potentially suspicious financial dealings relating to the project for the construction of a subsea power cable linking Cyprus to Greece.

Contacted by the Cyprus Mail, spokesman Marios Petrides said the office has been in touch verbally with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (Eppo).

They expect to formally address a communiqué to the Eppo by the end of January, he added. At around the same time the Audit Office will also release a special report on the matter, having concluded its audit.

Petrides said only that the audit covers the subsea cable project “from day one” – meaning from the project’s inauguration in 2022 – till the present day.

He declined any further comment.

The story about the Audit Office alerting the Eppo was broken a day earlier by news outlet Sigma.

Speaking to Sigma, Petrides said: “We have nothing to make public now. The Audit Office is, however, examining the issue. A specific and targeted audit is underway.”

It’s understood that a subsequent criminal probe by the Eppo itself is not a foregone conclusion. The Eppo will assess the information relayed to it by Cyprus’ Audit Office, and then decide whether to pursue the matter.

Daily Phileleftheros on Tuesday surmised that the audit covers the role of Politically Exposed Persons or former state officials in promoting the cable project – formerly known as EuroAsia Interconnector and currently as the Great Sea Interconnector.

The newspaper also said the audit is looking into the procedure via which the project promoter had secured a €658 million grant from the European Union. Given that EU funds are involved, the Audit Office felt compelled to alert the Eppo.

It has been known for months that the auditor-general’s office was scrutinising the cable project.

Back in September, Akel MP Irini Charalambidou requested information regarding possible financial ties between politicians and EuroAsia Interconnector Ltd, the former project promoters.

Sigma reported at the time that, in her letter to the finance ministry Charalambidou sought information as to whether “any financial contracts have been identified between politicians or Politically Exposed Persons, be they Cypriot or Greek nationals – for services rendered or other types of transactions – and Euroasia Interconnector”.

EuroAsia Interconnector Ltd, a Cypriot company, dropped out of the interconnector project in October 2023. Greece’s Independent Power Transmission Operator (Admie) then took over as the project promoter.

In her missive, the Akel MP was also said to ask the finance minister for the monetary amounts involved in the contracts, assuming such contracts had been tracked.

Sigma at the time said authorities were looking at three former ministers. The news outlet named them as former foreign minister Ioannis Kasoulides, former transport minister Marios Demetriades and former justice minister Ionas Nicolaou.

Kasoulides served as foreign minister from February 2013 to March 1, 2018, and then from January 2022 to February 28, 2023.

He joined the EuroAsia Interconnector as Chairman of the Strategic Council on March 30, 2018.

Demetriades was transport minister from March 2014 to March 1, 2018. He joined EuroAsia Interconnector Plc, a private company based in London, as a director in December 2018. According to a filing, he resigned from the company on December 1, 2020.

Founded in 2016, Euroasia Interconnector Plc engages in the transmission of electricity. It is not to be confused with EuroAsia Interconnector Ltd, the Cypriot company. However, Nasos Ktorides, CEO of the Cypriot company, was also a director on the London-based outfit.

Ionas Nicolaou served as justice minister from March 2013 to May 31, 2019.