Ethics report flags possible forgery by boxing federation official

A sports ethics investigation has found allegations against an official of the Pancyprian Amateur Boxing Federation (POEP) to be well-founded and has recommended that police investigate possible forgery, Phileleftheros has learned.

The investigation followed an anonymous complaint in the summer of 2025 alleging that the official controlled the federation through four clubs in which he and five relatives played a key role.

The officer who carried out the investigation for the Sports Ethics and Protection Committee (EDPA) concluded that the allegations should be investigated further. EDPA chairman Stefanos Skordis and vice-chairman Efthymios Efthymiou handed her report to Attorney General Giorgos Savvides and Deputy Attorney General Savvas Angelides on September 9.

Under the law, the head of the Law Office of the Republic decides whether to shelve the case or refer it to Cyprus Police for further investigation. The process is handled by Law Office officials.

According to the report, testimony against the official emerged on a number of specific points.

He refused to answer some questions, which may amount to a criminal offence under the law on combating the manipulation of sports competitions.

Testimony indicates that three of the clubs are based at the same premises and may be sham clubs. In one case, a club was found to pay no rent for the building it uses.

Testimony also indicates that the official has ties to the clubs while serving as a federation official, that his roles are intertwined, and that he signs documents on behalf of others, including grant applications to the Cyprus Sports Organisation (CSO).

The investigating officer takes the view that five people related to the official are involved. One of them denied being registered as a coach, saying she had an assisting role, but she is officially declared to the CSO as a coach for grant purposes.

According to the testimony, two of the four clubs do not follow internal regulations. Their heads claimed the clubs were dormant after they wrote to the relevant authorities, but this proved untrue.

The report also found that the official had adopted practices he considers legal but which are improper under the law.

The complaint was made to the Interior Ministry. It alleged that the official set up, supervised and had full control of the four clubs, which were allegedly fictitious and all operated from the same address in a Nicosia suburb, on his own premises.

The ministry’s Registrar of Associations and Foundations carried out a preliminary check to establish whether the complaint was well-founded. It found that three of the four clubs declare the same mailing address, and that three of the clubs share coaches, three of whom have the same surname as the official.

The complaint was then forwarded to the CSO and later to EDPA, and an investigating officer was appointed with specific terms of reference. She gathered testimony from individuals as well as evidence.

A case was recently filed in court against a football official charged with offences linked to a dual role he held, according to information obtained by Phileleftheros.

Two further cases linked to Phileleftheros reports on former Cyprus Football Association (CFA) president Giorgos Koumas have also gone to court.

Koumas faces 25 charges, 23 of them for conflict of interest and two for money laundering involving 6,562,447 euros. The charges concern the posts he held at the CFA, first as deputy president and then as president, and the fact that he was a shareholder in two companies, TRIPLE AAA PRODUCTIONS LIMITED and TRIPLE AAA VILLAGE STUDIOS LTD.

His case was filed last spring. On May 6, 2026, through his lawyers Christos Triantafyllides and Marios Orphanides, he pleaded not guilty. Judge Charalambos-Marios Karapatakis set the hearing to begin on November 23, 2026.

The second case, also filed, involves three defendants connected with the federation and match productions. During the investigation into Koumas, they had refused to give information to EDPA’s investigators.

EDPA carried out 69 investigations up to and including 2025. It shelved 31 and, according to official figures, referred its findings in 26 to the Attorney General’s office, while 12 remained under investigation.

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