Trial of North Property Developer Simon Aykut Continues

The first witness of the day was a member of the police’s investigative team, who had been involved in the investigation of Aykut since March last year.

Defence lawyer Maria Neophytou asked him a series of questions regarding why the arrest warrant for Aykut was only issued in June last year, when the police seemed to have information much earlier, and given that Aykut had crossed from the north into the Republic without being stopped as recently as May 2024.

The witness responded that he had only been a member of the investigative team since March 2024 and that the case is “voluminous”, with “many files and materials which were constantly under evaluation”.

Additionally, he said, “the date of issuance of the arrest warrant was a decision of my superiors”.

Neophytou then asked why every time a statement was taken from a Greek Cypriot regarding the Aykut case, they were asked whether they had or intended to apply to the Immovable Property Commission, with the witness asking that “the investigators have the right to ask questions of their own judgment”.

The case will continue next Tuesday.

Aykut was arrested in June last year while attempting to cross from the north to the Republic.

He is the founder of the Afik Group, which has carried out various construction projects in Trikomo, many of which are believed to be on Greek Cypriot land.

Outside of Aykut’s case, the number of cases regarding the alleged illegal development of Greek Cypriot property in the north is on the rise, with two Hungarian nationals having become the first to be sentenced to prison over the matter last week.

They had admitted to promoting and advertising the sale of houses near Kyrenia on the internet.

Meanwhile, the case of a German national who reportedly spoke about selling property in the north to an off-duty police officer during a flight to Larnaca is ongoing, and arrest warrants were issued on Tuesday for four Turkish nationals in connection with developments in the Famagusta district village of Lefkoniko.

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar had described the arrests as “acts of terrorism” and likened the moves to the violence faced by Turkish Cypriots in the 1960s, while the north’s ‘finance minister’ Erhan Arikli  had called for “revenge”.

Source: Cyprus Mail