Larnaca developer arrested over €12m fraud claims, lawyer hits back

Local CrimeLarnacapoliceTop News Larnaca developer arrested over €12m fraud claims, lawyer hits back Savvas Kakos Relevant News Larnaca developer arrested over €12m fraud claims, lawyer hits back 29 July 2026 Cyclist, 63, dead after collision with car in Strovolos 29 July 2026 He wasn’t waiting for any bus 29 July 2026 Fanis Makrides 29 July 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber Larnaca CID arrested well-known land developer Savvas Kakos yesterday on suspicion of committing felonies, and he is due before Larnaca District Court today. CID Larnaca will ask the court to issue an eight-day remand order against the 62-year-old as part of its investigation. The offences under investigation relate to 11 cases involving a large number of people who claim they were defrauded by the Greek Cypriot businessman. The cases concern alleged offences committed between 2022 and 2024 in the Larnaca district, with the total amount allegedly obtained put at €12 million. The cases stem from complaints investigated over recent years against Kakos, relating, according to the allegations, to representations he made through the land registry over land developments that were never carried out. A well-informed source told Phileleftheros that, according to complaints police were asked to investigate, purchase agreements filed with the land registry were later withdrawn, after money had been paid. Among those who have reported Kakos to police since 2022, according to information held by Phileleftheros, are Israeli citizens who wanted to acquire property in Cyprus either for investment or to settle permanently. Citizens of Israel have shown particular interest in buying property in Cyprus in recent years. Police say the offences under investigation against the 62-year-old businessman are serious, amounting to felonies based on the sentences they carry if he is convicted. Giorgos Charalambous, head of Larnaca CID, said yesterday that Larnaca CID had arrested a 62-year-old Greek Cypriot businessman, a Larnaca resident, in connection with ten offences under investigation. He said the offences were “committed between 2022 and 2024 in Larnaca.” According to Charalambous, the offences under investigation include conspiracy to commit a felony (seven years), obtaining money by false pretences (five years), drawing up documents without authority (seven years), forgery (three years), circulating a forged document (seven years), fraudulent dealing with immovable property belonging to another (seven years), fraud in the sale of property (four years), and false accounting with intent to defraud by a company director, along with defrauding creditors and money laundering. Most of the offences under investigation carry a maximum sentence of seven years’ imprisonment if he is convicted. One of the cases reported to Larnaca CID against Kakos was previously reported by Phileleftheros in September 2024. Israeli investors had reported the Greek Cypriot businessman for fraud to Larnaca CID through a lawyer who travelled to Cyprus for that purpose in early autumn 2024. Kakos, who is also active in real estate, was accused of obtaining €3 million from Israeli investors through false pretences. The money was intended for the purchase of a plot for development, but according to the complainants, the property was never bought and the businessman used the funds for other projects. The investors had agreed with the businessman that the investment funds for the Larnaca project would first be deposited into an escrow account in Israel. Once the investors’ lawyer received the necessary confirmatory documents from the Larnaca Land Registry from the businessman, the funds would be released and transferred to him. The complainants allege that the documents he sent were forged. Among other claims, they allege that the Greek Cypriot in some cases filed a purchase agreement with the land registry to obtain a related receipt, then, once he had shown it to a representative of the investors to receive payment, cancelled it. According to the allegations, he then asked the land registry to remove the purchase agreement from the property records. The complainants further allege that in a number of cases he falsified documents for tax and other purposes. Kakos is a prosecution witness in two ongoing cases relating to citizenship applications. One concerns the naturalisation of Iranian national Mehdi Ebrahimieshratabadi, who used the name Tony Newman, through law firm Harris Kyriakides LLC. The other concerns a number of naturalisations and has ten defendants, including former Transport Minister Marios Demetriades. His role in those cases was raised in public discussion yesterday following his arrest. Antonis Dimitriou, the lawyer representing Savvas Kakos, told Phileleftheros that his client had already taken legal action some time ago over all the cases in which he is alleged to have committed offences. He said civil cases are currently pending in court, with at least two lawsuits filed by Kakos concerning a sum of €20 million. He said a settlement had been reached in some cases, while an interim order had been issued in another. Dimitriou added that his client had filed two complaints with the Economic Crime Investigation Office over fraud and money laundering concerning a sum of €32 million. He also said his client had filed a complaint against an Israeli businessman who appears as a complainant in the current case, accusing him of leaking information to various media outlets. Dimitriou said his client had reported the Israeli businessman around two years ago, before police examined the complaint made against Kakos by the same businessman. Dimitriou further alleged that the Israeli businessman fraudulently obtained shares in a hotel in which Kakos has an interest, adding that legal action had been taken against the foreign investor. The lawyer for the businessman expressed dissatisfaction with how police had handled the case, referring to the arrest warrant issued against his client and to the fact that police’s application states that Kakos’s wife and daughter will also be questioned. “Did they ask my client to give evidence on the cases and he refused?” Dimitriou asked. Dimitriou said he would file an application to have the arrest and search warrants quashed through a prerogative order of Certiorari. 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