Notorious usurper of Greek Cypriot properties is extradited to Cyprus

The Republic of Cyprus has had a significant success in its struggle to protect its rights on the occupied territories of N. Cyprus; a British Court of Law has approved the extradition of Gary Robb, a notorious usurper of Greek-Cypriot properties, from the United Kingdom to Cyprus, where he will be tried by the Cypriot Courts. The court judgment was issued on Jne 13th, 2011, and Gary Robb will be in Cyprus by August 10th. Let's take things from the start:

It is a well known fact that a real estate "industry" regarding properties in the occupied territories of N. Cyprus has been flurishing for some time now in the United Kingdom. Those properties, whose lawful proprietors are Greek Cypriot refugees who were forced to leave them after the turkish invasion of 1974, were being sold at comparatively low prices to Britons, mainly pensioners, who thus acquired (or, rather, thought they would acquire) their mediterranean "dream home" at the expense of the Greek Cypriot refugees. The self-proclaimed Turkish-Cypriot pseudo-"state", which is only recognized by Turkey, favored this lamentable "business", because (a) it brought significant sums in hard currency and (b) it linked the interests of many Britons to the fate of the pseudo-state, creating british motives for recognizing it.

However, Greek Cypriots found ways to defend their rights: Greek Cypriot Meletios Apostolides went to Court against the British couple of David and Linda Orams, who had illegally bought a property belonging to him, and won. The European Court of Human Rights in case C 420/07 found that the judgment of the Nicosia District Court against the Orams couple (which found them liable for trespass in the property of the Plaintiff, ordering them to demolish the villa and other buildings erected on the property, surrender vacant possession to the Plaintiff and pay damages), must be recognised and enforced by all other member states (in this case, the United Kingdom), even if it concerns land situated in the northern part of the island. This judgment paved the way for hundreds of Greek Cypriots, who can now bring civil action against usurpers of their properties before the Cypriot Courts, obtain a judgment awarding them damages and have it recognised and enforced by British Courts. It goes without saying that the Orams case drastically reduced many people's "appetite" for acquiring Greek Cypriot refugees' properties from Turkish usurpers.

The final blow to this lamentable "business" comes now in the form of Gary Robb's extradition, which will lead to his trial in Cyprus. Robb, a British national and one of the main usurpers of Greek Cypriot properties, is a known criminal: in 1996, being the owner of a night club in the UK, he was arrested along with his brother as a drug dealer. He was let out on bail, but before being tried he escaped to N. Cyprus. There, presumably using his profits from drugs, he obtained turkish-cypriot "citizenship" and founded the company Aga Developments Construction Ltd., with the aim to construct tourist settlements and villas to be sold to foreigners. The most significant of them, "Amaranta Valley" comprising 246 villas, is situated in the Amaranta area near Kyrinia (seen behind Gary Robb in the picture below).



In 2005, Robb fled to Thailand in order to found a similar business there, but he was spotted by the British authorities (since there was an arrest warrant pending against him), while his property in occupied N. Cyprus was confiscated by the turkish-cypriot "authorities". Around the same time, the Republic of Cyprus issued a European Arrest Warrant against him. Robb cut a deal with turkish-cypriot "authorities" and came back, on the condition that he would promptly complete the construction of Amaranta Valley; many Britons had already bought "properties" or made down payments, and there was considerable pressure from the "authorities" to deliver some villas in time. But they were not; furthermore, some "clients" discovered that they had "bought" exactly the same villa as others! In the end the turkish-cypriot "state", losing patience with Robb, extradited him to the United Kingdom in 2009, along with his mother.

That gave the Republic of Cyprus the chance to prosecute that mastermind usurper of Greek Cypriot properties, requesting his extradition based on the European Arrest Warrant it had issued in 2005. That request by the Republic of Cyprus was granted on 13 June, by a decision of the Magistrates’ Court of Westminster. Thus Gary Robb is being extradited to the Democracy of Cyprus, to be tried by a Cypriot Court of Law for nine charges, including (i) criminal trespass; (ii) illegal possession, cultivation, enjoyment or use of land; (iii) malicious damage on trees; (iv) obtaining goods by false pretences; (v) fraud on the sale or mortgage of property; (vi) attempting to obtain money by false pretences; (vii) money laundering; (viii) conspiracy to commit a felony and (ix) conspiracy to commit a misdemeanour.
The contracts of sale entered into totalled £1.2m.

One cannot stress enough the importance of this development for Cyprus. Not only is justice being served, but a final blow is dealt to the Turkish-Cypriot "business" of selling Greek Cypriot refugee properties abroad, since potential buyers will now be aware that they risk facing civil and criminal charges if they decide to take advantage of some Greek Cypriot refugee's property.