AKEL party MP Irene Charalambidou has written to Auditor General Andreas Papaconstantinou requesting information about recent developments in the Cyprus-Crete electrical interconnection project and financial claims made by Greece’s power grid operator IPTO against Cyprus’s energy regulator CERA.
In her letter, Charalambidou specifically enquired whether the Audit Office has forwarded its findings to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), and if not, when it plans to do so “given recent developments”.
The MP referenced recent and older reports by philenews regarding IPTO’s financial demands from CERA, including the rejection of some claims by both Cypriot and Greek regulatory authorities, and IPTO’s insistence on recovering the full amount it claimed to have paid to EuroAsia to acquire the project rights.
Charalambidou expressed concern in her letter about the possibility that funds paid to EuroAsia “may involve suspicious transactions and agreements made when EuroAsia Interconnector was still the project implementer”.
The correspondence follows earlier developments in August 2023, when the former Auditor General had notified European and Cypriot institutions about preliminary findings from an investigation into state involvement in the project, which was then still being promoted by EuroAsia Interconnector.
According to the letter, regulatory authorities have approved IPTO’s recovery of 12 million euros for expenses incurred by EuroAsia Interconnector, primarily for studies and surveys related to the Cyprus-Crete interconnection segment.
However, they rejected claims for costs associated with the Cyprus-Israel and Crete-Attica sections, as well as portions of the 48.8 million euros considered a business decision for project acquisition.
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