Former party leader Sizopoulos to face criminal probe

A criminal investigation is warranted into possible corruption offences regarding former Edek leader and sitting MP Marinos Sizopoulos, the legal service concluded on Wednesday, initiating procedures to lift his parliamentary immunity.

Five months after the anti-corruption authority submitted its findings, a request will be filed to the supreme court to remove Sizopoulos’ immunity, a prerequisite for him to give a statement to police.

The move follows a similar process recently against Disy MP Nikos Sykas and signals that prosecutors believe the threshold for criminal inquiry has been met.

The anti-corruption authority report, passed to attorney-general Georgios Savvides on September 11 last year, recommended that Sizopoulos be investigated for offences relating to possible acts of corruption, including fraud, forgery, circulation of a false document and conspiracy to defraud.

The authority’s conclusions were based on complaints submitted by former Edek MP Georgios Varnavas, who alleged misconduct linked to a ‘golden passport’ naturalisation.

According to the authority’s findings, Sizopoulos was connected to a property development company involved in the sale of shares to a foreign investor who later acquired Cypriot citizenship under the now-defunct citizenship-by-investment scheme.

Investigators examined whether two separate sales contracts were drawn up for the same transaction, one declaring a higher price for submission to the state and another declaring a lower price for use with a bank that had agreed to write off part of a non-performing loan.

The authority said there is sufficient evidence to suggest Sizopoulos was aware of both the actual sale price and the existence of the higher-value contract.

It also found indications that a signature on the lower-value document may have been forged and that the bank would not have written off close to €1m of debt had it known the true sale price.

Two inspectors were appointed to carry out the probe, former judge Sotiris Liasidis and lawyer Nikolas Konstantinou.

Sizopoulos has consistently rejected the allegations, maintaining that he was himself the victim of fraud by a former associate.

Responding to the authority’s report last September, he said he had “no involvement” in the matters examined and insisted he would “present all the evidence” to clear his name.

He also criticised the authority for refusing to provide him with the full conclusions of its investigation, arguing that key findings exonerated him on specific points.

“Regarding the loan settlement, it was proved there was no involvement,” he claimed, while asserting that he had not mediated in the naturalisation process.

Allegations surrounding the same transaction first surfaced several years ago and were revived after Varnavas submitted a formal complaint in 2023.

In 2019, police had moved to initiate the lifting of Sizopoulos’ immunity, but the process was halted the following year after instructions from the attorney-general’s office, a decision that later drew criticism during broader investigations into the ‘golden passports’ programme.

Sizopoulos stepped down as Edek leader last April following internal dissent and the party’s poor showing in the European parliamentary elections in 2024.