State lawyer in the case against two Cyprus nationals requested the Suva Magistrates Court yesterday to hold the accused men in Police custody as investigations were pending against them.

Loizos Petridis, 42, and Cleanthis Petridis, 46, appeared before Magistrate Jioji Boseiwaqa represented by Legal Aid lawyer Lavinia David.

State lawyer Saif Shah served the two men with first phase disclosures and their right to a lawyer was put to them in court.

Mr Shah objected to the two foreign nationals being released on bail on the grounds that their caution interviews were still ongoing and releasing them from Police custody would cause inconvenience, pending investigations.

He requested if the two men could be further remanded in custody of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters as the only facilities for their interview process was present at the facility.

He said the present charges against the duo only contained a fraction of the amount allegedly laundered.

Mr Shah also produced an order issued by High Court Judge Justice Salesi Temo on December 22, 2017 which allowed Police to conduct further investigations detaining the two suspects in custody until December 28, 2017.

The order further stated that if the time granted to detain the duo was not sufficient to conduct further investigations then the Prosecution could submit a fresh application in court.

Defence lawyer Ms David said she spoke to her clients who were both objecting to being placed further in Police custody.

She said her clients had been in custody for nine days and they wanted to be placed at the remand centre instead.

Ms David said the conditions at the CID headquarters was not conducive for long nights of sleep as they were placed at different Police stations after their interviews and the cells were not in good condition.

She suggested that the duo be admitted to the remand centre and arrangements could be made to accommodate any further investigations.

Mr Shah said there would be undue hindrance to their caution interviews if they were placed at the remand centre, adding that a total in excess of $150,000 was alleged to be involved.

He assured the court that the accused men were being looked after well at the Totogo and Samabula Police Stations where they were being kept and necessary amenities would be provided for them.

Magistrate Boseiwaqa further remanded them in custody and adjourned the matter to January 4, 2018 for mention.

The two men are charged with six counts of money laundering where they allegedly committed various offences on December 19 this year in Suva.

Edited by Mohammed Zulfikar

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