Golden passports defendants request trial within a trial

The defendants in the ‘golden passports’ case requested a trial within a trial on Tuesday, arguing that a great deal of the evidence to be presented by state prosecutors was irregularly obtained by police during investigations. On trial at Nicosia criminal court are ten defendants: former transport minister Marios Demetriades, Andreas Demetriades, Demetris Demetriades, Giorgos Demetriades, Eleni Simillidi, Jing Wang, Josef Friedrich Santin, Vasiliki Georgiou-Santin, and Andreas Demetriades & Co LLC and Delsk Business Services Ltd. The charges involve corruption, bribery, conspiracy to defraud and money laundering related to the naturalisation of 19 Asian investors, in the context of the now-defunct citizenship-by-investment scheme. All defendants deny the charges. In court on Tuesday, defence attorney Elias Stefanou requested a trial within a trial due to objections over the manner in which evidence was obtained against the accused. He was referring to three warrants issued to search the premises of the Demetriades family law firm. According to Stefanou, the issues at stake are violations of attorney-client privilege, violation of the privacy of communications, exceeding the scope of the warrants, and relevance of the material seized. The seized material includes electronic communications, a hard disk, computer towers, storage devices, mobile phones and paper files. Stefanou said the defence had asked prosecutors to specify the material they intend to present in court. A trial within a trial would determine which evidence would be admissible for the trial proper. Countering, lead prosecutor Charis Karaolidou said they had already informed the defence of the evidentiary items they would not be presenting in court. She said the defence needs to spell out precisely which material it objects to. Hearing both sides, the court granted the defence time until November 16 – the next scheduled hearing – to present its objections in detail. Tuesday’s proceedings also saw the first prosecution witness – a CID officer – continue testifying. The officer is the case evidence custodian. To date, 105 items of evidence have been submitted in court – documents pertaining to naturalisations granted to individuals from Cambodia and China. Former minister Demetriades is specifically charged with intervening in citizenship applications handled by his father’s and brothers’ law firm. The second charge involves “accepting gifts as a public official” related to a Chinese investor’s naturalisation. The third charge alleges bribery of a public official, citing Demetriades’ active participation in cabinet decisions. Meanwhile defendants Josef Friedrich Santin, Vasiliki Georgiou-Santin, and Delsk Ltd face charges of influence peddling. This is one of four court cases filed in relation to the ‘golden passports’ scheme. The most prominent one, involving former House president Demetris Syllouris and former Akel MP Christakis Giovani, resulted in acquittals in February this year.