Set aside trial court judgment, rejecting the renewal of an issued order for the retention of a large number of documents by the Police
The Supreme Court on Wednesday 26 October 2022 issued a judgment in a criminal appeal filed by the Attorney General of the Republic against a decision of a first instance court in connection with an investigated case concerning serious criminal offences relating to the naturalisation of foreign investors, which had rejected an application for the renewal of a previously issued order for the retention of a large number of documents by the police.
In annulling the decision of the trial court not to renew the retention of documents, the Supreme Court found that the trial court acted in excess of its powers, adding that it "did not focus on the one "essential" issue, which was whether further retention of the documents was justified. It further ruled that not every piece of evidence should be linked 'to every offence that it relates to or tends to prove' and that the procedure for withholding evidence should not become 'a super-procedure, possibly prejudging possible future hearings where the relevance of evidence sought to be adduced is judged'.
It is important to stress that this decision of the Supreme Court makes it clear that, the retention and disposal of property seized during the execution of a search warrant does not concern a civil dispute but a criminal one.
The appeal was found to be justified and the Supreme Court set aside the first instance judgment.
On behalf of the Attorney General of the Republic, the case was handled by Messrs. Polina Efthyvoulou, Senior Advocate of the Republic and Theodora Papakyriakou, Advocate of the Republic.
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