The defence in the ‘golden passports’ case against former transport minister Marios Demetriades asked the Nicosia Criminal Court on Tuesday to hold a trial within a trial over documents, electronic files and communications seized from a law firm. The material was taken from the offices of Andreas Demetriades & Co LLC.
The case concerns the exceptional naturalisation of 19 investors from Asia, in which Demetriades and nine other individuals and companies face a total of 84 charges.
Defence lawyer Ilias Stefanou said he would object to material seized when three warrants were executed at the firm’s offices. It includes electronic communications, a hard drive, computer towers, storage units, mobile phones and document files. Stefanou represents Andreas, Dimitris and Giorgos Demetriades, Eleni Symillidi, Vasiliki Georgiou-Santin and the firm itself.
The defence is raising issues of breach of lawyer-client privilege and the right to private communication, of the search and access warrants being exceeded, and of the material’s relevance to the case.
Stefanou said the defence had asked the prosecution in writing in February 2026 to specify which part of the seized material it intended to use. One of the computer towers alone contains eight million files, he said. Because the objections share the same factual background, involve the same police officers and concern the same warrants, they can be examined in a single trial within a trial, the defence argued.
Prosecutor Charis Karaolidou said the defence had been told before the hearing began which material would not be used. The prosecution will use exhibits 1 to 7, but not exhibits 40, 44, 49 to 57 and 59 to 75, she said.
She said, however, that it had not yet been specified in detail which part of each exhibit was disputed and why. The issues could be examined in a single trial within a trial once the objections had been set out, she said, adding that she would re-examine the material whose relevance was being questioned.
At the next hearing, on 16 November, the defence is expected to set out its objections to each exhibit in detail, so the court can decide whether the disputed evidence can be admitted and used.
105 exhibits
Earlier in the hearing, the first prosecution witness, Constable A.A. of CID headquarters, continued her testimony as the custodian of the case’s exhibits. Another 76 exhibits were submitted, bringing the total to 105 with the 29 submitted on Monday.
They include Interior Ministry files, material seized during police searches, original sale documents between companies and foreign investment files. It was accepted as an admitted fact that the exhibits were lawfully obtained from the places and people recorded and were handled without interference or alteration, apart from forensic examinations.
Background
The charges include corruption, bribery, trading in influence, conspiracy to defraud, VAT fraud and money laundering. Demetriades is accused of intervening in the examination of naturalisation applications handled by the law firm of his father and brothers. Other charges relate to the alleged unjustified application of a reduced 5 per cent VAT rate and the alleged use of fictitious invoices to transfer money.
All the defendants are presumed innocent.
