Legal service denies Angelides suspended investigation into former client

Recently circulated allegations of the inappropriate handling of a case by deputy attorney general Savvas Angelides due its connection to his former law firm were “an attempt to create a scandal” and completely unfounded, the legal service said on Friday.

“[This is] an attempt to create the impression that the deputy attorney general has ordered the suspension of the criminal prosecution of a defendant who was allegedly involved in the case concerning a bombing attack, because this person was represented by the former law firm,” it said.

Circulating information is selective and “full of inaccuracies”, the legal service said.

It stressed that the decision to suspend the relevant prosecution was because both the main and a second key witness withdrew their willingness to assist police investigations, choosing not to give testimony in court.

The main witness, the legal service said, chose not to give testimony in court, while the second witness filed a new statement denying the accusations mentioned in their initial statement.

“The result of these developments was that there was ultimately no testimony to prove the charges, and the decision was made without a prior request from the accused,” the legal service concluded.

It emphasised that the final decision for suspension lay with attorney-general George Savvides following a relevant recommendation by both the legal service and one of the involved prosecutors, stressing that Angelides had at no point been part of the investigations

“The deputy attorney general [Angelides] has been excluded from anything related to the case in question from the very beginning,” it said.

The legal services added that the defendant, whose case had been suspended, and another person alleged to be involved in the case, were facing charges for the offence of possessing illegal narcotics, over which they were eventually found guilty and sentenced by the criminal court.