Former energy regulator to face corruption trial

Latest: Corruption and Money Laundering

Former energy regulator to face corruption trial Cyprus Mail Former energy regulator Costas Ioannou is facing trial on charges of corruption and money laundering in relation to a power production licence he ... Former energy regulator Costas Ioannou is facing trial on charges of corruption and money laundering in relation to a power production licence he awarded a Russian company in 2009. The police investigations, which took place in Cyprus and in Russia, date back to 2013. Authorities were recently able to line up all the pieces in the puzzle when, having secured a court order, they went through the accounts of a company ultimately belonging to Ioannou. Police discovered that two transfers, for €50,000 and €16,000, were made into the company’s bank account in the Channel Islands. The cash was allegedly a bribe to grease a deal whereby Ioannou, at the time head of the Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority (CERA), was to grant a license to a Russian concern to build and operate a power station in Mari. The license was granted in August 2009. The power station was never built. Also facing charges in the same trial are Russian national Irini Bikova, her Seychelles-registered company Panorama Events and Andreas Hayiannis, a close relative of Ioannou’s. read more: