PAPHOS police yesterday arrested and remanded in custody a developer on suspicion of obtaining money from four British families with intent to defraud.
Costas Papaioannou, owner of Costas Papaioannou Developers Ltd, was remanded in custody for five days by a Paphos Court after a complaint was filed by lawyer Chrysa Christofi, who is representing the four families.
In total, Papaioannou is suspected of receiving a total of £256,000 from the British families towards flats that were never built.
CID investigators believe that Papaioannou began two separate projects in 2004, in which he bought land in the Paphos villages of Yeroskipou and Chlorakas, planning to build apartment blocks.
The court heard that during that time, he also sought buyers for the apartments through various estate agents, making an agreement with one of the landowners in which he promised to pay him off through the apartment sales.
But things went wrong for Papaioannou when he failed to secure building permits for construction, and was then forced to make cutbacks and halt construction.
He is then alleged to have fled the island, but was arrested yesterday morning with a court warrant, after the lawyer representing the four families learned that he had arrived back in Cyprus.
Other people, who had also bought apartments from Papaioannou, are expected to file complaints in the near future.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2006
