The anti-corruption authority said on Tuesday that deputy attorney-general Savvas Angelides had always been within the scope of its expanded investigation into the “black van” surveillance case, disputing an account given by attorney-general George Savvides that suggested otherwise.
The dispute centres on a meeting held on July 29 at the legal services’ headquarters, at which the authority says 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’s statement, Angelides left the meeting once it became apparent that the investigation would also concern him personally.
The authority said that from that point, “if not earlier”, its intention to examine Angelides’s 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’s 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.
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’s 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 “black 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.
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