Cyprus said Tuesday ransom was the motive of thieves who stole the body of former President Tassos Papadopoulos, found in a shallow grave Monday three months after it disappeared from its tomb. The remains, stolen last December, were found in another person’s grave after police received a tip-off and DNA tests identified it as that of the former leader.

"Police had realized early on that the theft of the body was for ransom," Justice Minister Loucas Louca said. "There was no political motive." A spokesman for the Papadopoulos family denied a ransom request was made, but the minister insisted the motive was financial, although he said no money was paid. Papadopoulos was president of Cyprus from 2003 to early 2008, when he lost a bid for re-election to the leftist Demetris Christofias, once a partner in his ruling center-left coalition.

A forceful character, Papadopoulos led Greek Cypriot rejection of a U.N. reunification blueprint for ethnically-divided Cyprus in 2004. The unprecedented crime was a riddle for Cypriot authorities who sought help from Western intelligence services and Interpol.

In a well-planned operation, the thieves lifted a 300 kg (650 lb) granite slab covering Papadopoulos’s grave, removed the corpse from its coffin and left the scene undetected. Among conspiracy theories over who could have been responsible were Balkan crime gangs seeking a ransom to local thieves with a political motive.

Police quickly ruled out a political motive, which could have had explosive consequences on the Mediterranean island, divided since a Turkish invasion in 1974 which followed a brief Greek-inspired coup. "The public has every right to know the motives, because this was a case which had caused agitation on a political and a social level," said Louca. "The motives were financial."

The cemetery where Papadopoulos’s body was found is close to the community where he was originally buried. Police said it had been placed in the grave of someone who died last year.

By Reuters

As if the Oram’s verdict is not enough to worry foreign buyers of property, now North Cyprus is refusing to allow purchasers of undisputed pre 74 Turkish Title land and properties to have their title deeds. Is this a shot in the foot for the Turkish Cypriot government or a stab in the back for the purchasers?

After a verdict in the European court of Human Rights ruled that the Oram’s, a British couple must demolish their property in North Cyprus which they had bought from a Turkish Cypriot but was originally owned by a Greek Cypriot, the North Cyprus property industry has effectively had a heart attack.

The only property that can be termed as safe to purchase now is Pre 74 Turkish or Foreign title property. This is land or property that was owned by a Turkish Cypriot or foreigner before the troubles of 1974. Naturally since the ruling, sales of this type of property have increased. So can we say all is not lost and construction and sales can proceed?

By SB