Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 99-04-08

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cynews.com/>

Thursday, April 08, 1999

Speculation rife on dam murder

THE LOCAL papers were full of speculation about the latest murder case yesterday.

Phileleftheros reported that 55-year-old victim Fotis Petrakides had been working undercover for police trying to bust gun-running rings involved in smuggling weapons from the north. The former special policeman was killed by smugglers who wanted him "out of the way," the paper reported. The fact that an autopsy had shown the victim had been shot five times at point- blank range showed that he knew his killers, the wide-circulation daily speculated.

Phileleftheros also quoted Petrakides's grieving wife as saying her husband had feared for his life in the months running up to his disappearance last Friday. He had even taken out life insurance, telling her he didn't want her left penniless if he died, she told the paper. The report added that the bereaved wife had tried to commit suicide three times since her husband's death.

Machi reported that Petrakides had been shot on the evening of the day of his disappearance after meeting gun-runners at a pre-arranged rendez-vous near the Panayia ton Ambelion chapel at Aradippou, Larnaca - not far from the Aradippou dam where his body was found on Monday. Police were focusing their investigations on known smuggling suspects in the Nicosia district buffer-zone village of Lymbia, but had so far drawn a blank, Machi said. The paper also concluded that Petrakides had been shot by two men.

Turning to the Kosovo crisis, which all the papers again devoted their lead stories to, Politis reported that the US government was putting pressure on the Cyprus government to freeze Yugoslav assets on the island.

The paper quoted Washington sources as saying the US government was to make a relevant official approach to Nicosia in the near future. The paper reported that Yugoslav companies, and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic himself, had millions sunk into offshore companies in Cyprus.

Politis added that any US request for a freeze was likely to be rebuffed by the government as only a UN resolution for an embargo on Yugoslav assets could secure such action.

Simerini reported that Popular bank manager Andreas Papavasiliou was to be ordained on May 8. The paper said the 60-year-old financial expert, one of a number of high flyers joining the church recently, was to be detailed to sort out the finances of the Limassol church. The Limassol church's finances have been thrown into turmoil by the financial misdemeanours of the former Limassol Bishop, Chrysanthos.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999

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