The report filed by the committee formed to investigate the history of faulty airbags in Cyprus has been forwarded by the legal service to both the police and cabinet, the legal service said on Tuesday.

The legal service said the police have taken receipt of the report “with instructions for the investigation of all possible criminal offences by any person”, and that cabinet will study it “in relation to disciplinary responsibilities which may arise”.

With the report now in the police’s hands, some who may have been implicated by it have begun to protest their innocence.

Former transport ministry permanent secretary Alekos Michaelides had on Monday denied that he had any knowledge of a circular issued by the road transport department in 2017 on the matter of faulty airbags and the import of ‘grey vehicles’.

Incumbent Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades had told the committee in May the circular had “exempted distributors from any responsibility” regarding ‘grey vehicles’ and the recall thereof, “without defining an alternative mechanism for informing the owners”.

Committee chairman Michalakis Christodoulou had said upon the committee’s report’s submission on Friday that “with the 2017 circular, the road transport department exempted distributors from liability for used vehicles but did not say how the problem would be resolved if a recall occurred”.

In effect, it has been claimed that this circular allowed importers to get away with importing cars with potentially lethal airbags, and that the circular itself constitutes evidence that transport ministers and permanent secretaries of the time knew about the issue and did nothing about it.

Michaelides, however, told newspaper Politis on Monday that this is not the case.

“I categorically declare that I had no knowledge or involvement in the formation of the circular … Furthermore, I declare that at no point did the director or any other officer from the road transport department seek to consult with me on the issue of Takata airbags or the circular itself,” he said.

He added that he had seen the circular for the first time in May this year, when he was called to testify in front of the committee.

Additionally, he said, he had contacted the transport ministry twice over the matter, and been told by a “competent officer” that the circular “was never received by the ministry”.

“Specifically, I was told that ‘on the instructions of the permanent secretary [George Louca], we went through all the files of the ministry, and no such circular exists’,” he said.

Former transport minister Marios Demetriades, who served between 2014 and 2018, also said he had no knowledge of the circular during his time in office.

“I categorically declare that during my term in office … I had no involvement in the preparation of the circular … nor did I give any instructions regarding it. This is confirmed by the testimonies of ministry officials who participated in the committee’s work,” he said.

However, the report itself states that even if ministers and permanent secretaries were unaware of the circular or the issue regarding faulty airbags, it would have been their duty to make themselves aware.

“A minister does not need to have direct and personal involvement in an issue for it to be attributed to them,” the report said, adding that “if the people at the top of the political and social pyramid do not take responsibility for their actions, they are encouraging the consolidation of general and political impunity”.

It said the former ministers bear responsibility for “the inaction, negligence, and indifference shown by the road transport department” over the matter, and that the former ministers’ “position that they do not bear any responsibility due to not being informed cannot be accepted”.

“Any act carried out by employees of their ministry or of the services under their ministry ultimately reflects on themselves. In any case, the responsibility for not being formed lies with themselves for another reason, as well,” the report stated.

The issue of airbags stems from the production of faulty airbags by Japanese company Takata. The company’s airbags suffer a fault related to exposure to high levels of heat or humidity, which means they have a tendency to explode when released under such circumstances.

This explosion shoots the airbag’s metal inflator outwards and in the direction of the person it was designed to protect, potentially causing further injuries or, in some cases, death.

Faulty airbags have caused two deaths in Cyprus, those of Styliani Giorgalli last year and Kyriakos Oxinos in 2023, while Alexandros Lougos has so far undergone 21 surgeries to restore his face after being involved in an accident in 2017.