Video sting may have been part of hybrid attack on Cyprus, investigator says

NICOSIA, July 20 - A video sting produced by an Israeli private intelligence firm that said it exposed corruption in Cyprus may have been part of a hybrid attack targeting the Cypriot state, and none of those filmed did anything wrong, an independent investigator said on Monday.

The secretly shot video, released on social media on January 8, showed a Cypriot official, a former energy minister and a businessman talking about potential investments and political donations with people posing as investors. Two of those featured suggested having direct access to upper echelons of government.

All three denied wrongdoing but the official, Charalambos Charalambous, resigned as a senior aide to Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides after the video's release.

Black Cube, a private intelligence company founded by former members of Israeli intelligence, said in April it had been involved in producing the video but did not identify its client.

The office of Andreas Paschalides, who was appointed by the state to lead an independent investigation, said in a statement: "As things currently stand, one can reasonably conclude this video was a form of hybrid attack to harm the Cypriot state."

It dismissed statements made in the video as "empty talk and bluster".

Cypriot investigators have offered immunity from prosecution to those involved in the production of the video, but will continue to investigate who commissioned the sting, Paschalides' office said.

Black Cube has said it obtains legal advice in every jurisdiction in which it operates to ensure the legality of its activities. It did not immediately respond to a Reuters request to comment on Monday.

Two opposition parties, the Communist AKEL and centrist ALMA, decried Paschalides' verdict as a whitewash. "This trivialises institutional collusion," AKEL said.

The video appeared shortly after the Cypriot government assumed the rotating six-month European Union presidency on January 1. It triggered renewed scrutiny of business tactics in a jurisdiction that has worked hard in recent years to shed a longstanding reputation as a haven for opaque foreign money. REUTERS