Cyprus may have to pay back €101m after Vasiliko debacle

There is a “very real danger” the government will have to pay back EU funds it received for the Vasiliko liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal, which is now being investigated for corruption.

Deputy government spokesman Yiannis Antoniou on Friday fielded a barrage of questions after the state came under criticism for keeping quiet over an ongoing investigation launched by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) on the LNG.

It emerged a day earlier that the government had been aware of the probe since March – but the cat only came out of the bag when EPPO issued an announcement on Thursday afternoon, potentially prompted by news reports on the matter.

Speaking to the state broadcaster, Antoniou said the government stayed quiet as it did not want to risk jeopardising the ongoing investigation.

Currently, officers from Cyprus’ anti-money laundering unit (Mokas) and top brass from the Legal Service are carrying out the probe, which is investigating the terminal on suspicion of procurement fraud, misappropriation of EU funds and corruption.

Antoniou said the investigation is at “an advanced stage” and defended the silence by saying it was a sensitive period for the government, as it tries to ensure the project is actually completed.

“An ongoing concern for us amid everything else surrounding this project, is the possibility we may not get the floating storage and regasification unit (Fsru).”

“There is a very real danger that we have to return money paid out by the European Commission.”

The project involves a cost of €542 million – of which approximately €101m was financed by the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme. 

EPPO’s office confirmed the investigation is progressing steadily, carried out by the Cyprus’s police under the direction of the EPPO in Nicosia and Luxembourg.

On Thursday night, President Nikos Christodoulides defended the government’s silence as well as criticism from Akel, which questioned whether he would allow the case to be covered up because the decisions were made during the previous administration, at a time in which he was part of the same government.

“I was not the one handling it. It was Cyprus’ Natural Gas Infrastructure Company (Etyfa), which falls under Natural Gas Public Corporation (Defa).”