The resignation of businessman Giorgos Koumas from the leadership of the Cyprus Football Association (CFA) yesterday has triggered developments in the criminal investigation against him.
Independent criminal investigator Alexandra Lykourgou will meet senior prosecutors at the Law Office this morning to advance the inquiry into potential conflicts of interest relating to television rights deals that were first exposed with documents in 2018.
Attorney General Giorgos Savvidis and Deputy Attorney General Savvas Angelidis are expected to attend the meeting, which will effectively clear the path for completing the outstanding investigative work needed to finalise the case file and determine whether criminal charges will be brought.
Ms Lykourgou will receive answers to two legal questions she posed on 12 May when she submitted her accompanying report along with all the evidence collected with police investigators – 20 box files of material.
After study by Law Office officials, these two legal issues have been clarified and appropriate instructions will be given. One of the key issues concerns whether Koumas or other individuals will be called for questioning under caution.
Triple conflict allegations
The police investigation, which began in November 2023 and is expected to conclude shortly, was based on findings from the Sports Ethics and Protection Committee’s inquiry, specifically work by criminologists Ilias Stefanou and Efthymios Th. Efthymiou.
The investigators concluded there was a triple conflict of interest, including issues brought to light in 2018 regarding four companies owned by Koumas in the Seychelles and British Virgin Islands that sold foreign sporting rights to CytaVision for millions whilst he held a senior CFA position.
The criminal investigation focused on several key areas:
Koumas’s four offshore companies that sold rights to foreign sporting events to CytaVision, and in some cases also sold matches involving Cypriot teams (APOEL and Cyprus national team) whilst he was a CFA executive.
Testimony from three football officials claiming he distributed CFA TV money (from the CytaVision contract) to clubs in a manner that could potentially manipulate the championship.
Evidence that the CFA’s contract with CytaVision included a clause allowing the federation to appoint match commentators.
Testimony linking the production company ABC BC Broadcasting Corporation Ltd, which won the CFA contract to produce matches for CFA TV, to Koumas’s interests.
“I have become a target”
According to a CFA announcement, Koumas resigned at yesterday’s Executive Committee meeting. In his written statement, he said: “Recently, I have become a target and inevitably, along with me, the CFA and Cypriot football in general are being targeted. With my departure, I wish to protect the sport. To stop it being the subject of attacks because of my person. Above all, football must remain outside personal targeting and conflicts.”
Four investigations since 2018
Since the 2018 document revelations about Koumas’s dealings with CytaVision, at least four investigations have taken place: two by the Sports Ethics Committee and two by police. One investigation began in October 2020 but mysteriously stalled without explanation, with the subsequent Ethics Committee administration having no record of the inquiry.
The current investigation stems from a 6,000-page report submitted to the Sports Ethics Committee in autumn 2023, which was forwarded to the Attorney General on 10 October.
On 3 November 2023, the Attorney General instructed police to conduct a criminal investigation and appointed former Senior District Judge Alexandra Lykourgou as independent criminal investigator.
