NICOSIA (Reuters) -European prosecutors are investigating possible criminal offences relating to a 1.9 billion euro ($2 billion) EU-financed project to build a subsea electric cable linking Europe to the eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus’s president and the prosecuting agency said.
Greek power grid operator IPTO is building the Great Sea Interconnector cable to link European and Cypriot transmission networks and later extend to Israel.
The project has been hit by multiple delays, and Nicosia has sought clarifications on its cost and viability. Greece reaffirmed its commitment to the project in March after reports it had been halted over financial and geopolitical concerns.
Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides told reporters late on Wednesday that the European Public Prosecutor’s Office had opened an inquiry for “possible criminal offences”.
“The EPPO can confirm that it has an ongoing investigation,” the agency said in a written response to Reuters. “No further details can be made public at this time, in order not to endanger the outcome of the investigation.”
In Athens, IPTO declined to comment, while a government spokesperson in Greece, which has been actively supporting the project, said Greece had not received any advisory on the probe. The Greek operator took over the project in 2023, replacing a Cyprus-based project manager.
Piotr Serafin, the EU budgetary affairs and anti-fraud commissioner in Cyprus, declined to comment on Thursday, citing EPPO’s independence. He said he was not aware of any concerns expressed by his office over the project.
On completion, project promoters say the link would be “the world’s longest” high-voltage cable at 1,240 km (770.5 miles) and also the deepest at 3,000 metres.
(Reporting By Michele Kambas; Additional reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Jan Harvey and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
