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Wed, 10 May 2006
Fugitive back in north Cyprus!
"A BRITISH fugitive accused last year of plotting to smuggle millions of pounds of property investors’ money from the north was said yesterday to have cut a deal with the Turkish Cypriot authorities allowing him to continue construction of a massive villa complex in Klepini. " reports Cyprus Mail.
Previously BBC had a report about him at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/kenyon_confronts/2645783.stm
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=25780&cat_id=1
Fugitive Gary Robb back in the north By Simon Bahceli A BRITISH fugitive accused last year of plotting to smuggle millions of pounds of property investors’ money from the north was said yesterday to have cut a deal with the Turkish Cypriot authorities allowing him to continue construction of a massive villa complex in Klepini.
Gary Robb, who is wanted by the UK police for serious drugs charges -– and who has lived in north Cyprus since jumping bail in 2003 -– last October fell foul of the Turkish Cypriot authorities when it was believed he was creaming off cash from down- payments made by around 500 British customers for homes on his company’s 12,000 donum Amaranta complex in the Pentadaktalos mountains.
Robb’s assets, along with those of his former lawyer Talat Kursat, were frozen by the ‘finance ministry’ amid allegations that the fugitive had left the island in July and intended to transfer around £10 million sterling worth of property investors’ deposits into his private Bangkok account. Robb was also stripped of his ‘TRNC’ citizenship.
Robb, however, last Friday returned to the north of the island, saying he was ready resolve the matter, and promised that all those who had bought from his AGA Construction Ltd would receive their properties.
The
Hhead of the Constructors’ Association in the north, Cafer Gurcafer, told the Cyprus Mail yesterday his association had been instrumental in securing Robb’s return to the island so that he could “resolve the issue”. He added that Robb had been very keen to come back and clear his name.
On arrival last Friday, Robb voluntarily presented himself at a police station and filed several complaints against a number of individuals, who he claimed had sought to defraud and steal from him.
“I cannot say anything now except that there are people who tried to steal his money and properties,” Robb’s lawyer Mert Guclu told the Mail yesterday. Robb is currently under investigation by police in the north’s, and it is believed he will be called on to defend himself in court at some time in the future.
As part of the deal thrashed out between Robb and the breakaway administration in the north ‘government’ Gurcafer now holds an observer position on the AGA board of directors – a position he uses to ensure, on behalf of the authorities, that the company operates within the law.
Around 500 property buyers have been waiting anxiously since last October to learn whether their investments would come to nothing. At one stage, the authorities intervened and gave promises that all customers would receive their completed properties.
Undoubtedly, Robb’s return will bring relief to investors in the Amaranta project, but what future Robb holds in Cyprus remains in the balance.
Gurcafer said yesterday he was “not concerned with what Robb has done in the past”.
“My concern is that investors get what they paid for. Whether or not he is a criminal is up to the courts to decide,” he said, adding that unless the issue was resolved it would cause great damage to property sales in the north.
Gurcafer said so far only around 40 of the 500 properties on the Amaranta complex were occupied, but that the remainder would be ready for occupation within a year. He insisted sufficient funds were available.
He also insisted that despite media reports saying Robb had absconded last summer, he had in fact gone to Thailand to tend to his property business there.
“Such rumours were all part of a plot by people seeking to get hold of his properties,” he said.
Asked who would be interested in undermining Robb’s business interests, Gurcafer said, “I can’t tell you because I don’t want to prejudice the case, but even a three-year-old could work it out.”.
A spokesman for the British High Commission sconfirmed yesterday the warrant for Robb’s arrest in the UK still stood.
May 10th, 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/kenyon_confronts/2645783.stm
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