THE TRIAL of a glamourous television presenter accused of murdering a Cypriot media mogul was yesterday postponed for two days.
Elena Skordelli and her brother, Tassos Krasopoulis, were arrested in mid-February charged with ordering the fatal shooting of Andis Hadjicostis, chairman of the Dias group.
He was gunned down with a sawn-off shotgun in front of his home on January 11th by a masked man riding pillion a motorbike.
Ms Skordelli, a mother of two, and her brother, a civil servant, are accused of hiring hitmen to kill Mr Hadjicostis after he had fired her. The suspects, who own 20 per cent of the shares in the Dias group, also tried to corner a majority stake holding in the company following the death of the chairman. The Dias group owns a television station, a newspaper, and several glossy magazines.
After losing her job at Dias-owned Sigma television, Ms Skordeli was employed by a rival station. She and her brother deny involvement in the shooting.
During the remand hearing, CID chief inspector Thomas Efthymiou said a suspect, who had turned state’s evidence, testified that the siblings had offered money and jobs at Dias to him and another accused in exchange for killing Mr Hadjicostis. This state’s witness, who has been given immunity from prosecution, is being treated in hospital for wounds sustained in a car bombing last year. Blowing up each other’s cars is a favourite pastime of the island’s criminal gangs.
The murder was initially linked to the right-wing Dias group’s opposition to ongoing negotiations between President Demetris Christofias and the Turkish Cypriot leader aimed at reunifying Cyprus.
Twelve-gauge shotgun rounds, which are banned in the republic but which reportedly can be found in the Turkish-occupied area, were discovered at the crime scene. But police dismissed the rounds as a false clue after they scanned security camera footage of the hit.