Ref: A00-300995 Case No. 871626 Macpherson II
Volume VIII, Pages 14-73, Friday 23rd June, 1989
Page 8.14 (continued)
(In the presence of the jury) CROSS-EXAMINED BY MR. TEMPLE Q. Mr. Koupparis, would you have in front of you, please, a copy of the document bundle. I want to ask you a little bit about your document because you have covered a lot of it. Do you regard the fact that you have an 'O' level in chemistry as a qualification? A. It is an 'O' level qualification. Q. It is a qualification? A. Yes. Q. Apart from studying chemistry to that comparatively modest level, have you ever been on any course at polytechnic or any other academy of learning where you went on a chemistry course? A. No, I haven't participated in any further education concerning chemistry. Q. Are you saying that your sole qualification in chemistry is the fact that you have an 'O' level? A. Yes. Q. And you did not study chemistry in any shape or form after you left school? A. Well, I have kept myself familiar with scientific development. There's various things I need to know for my work on the physical side, so that does cover a little bit of chemistry theory. Q. Does that same general explanation apply to electrical matters during the course of your employment, principally with Alcom, you kept yourself abreast of electrical matters? A. I have never actually been employed by Alcom as an employee; I was always a consultant for them. Q. The question was, did you tend to keep yourself informed as to electronic matters? A. Yes.
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Q. So really it comes to this, does it not, that you do have a very basic knowledge of chemistry and an even baser knowledge of electronics? A. No, that is not the case at all. Q. What is it? A. The knowledge of electronics for the particular area that I am involved in is quite state of the art. Q. Would you look, please, at document page 492. Do you recognise this document as being a copy of the evidence you gave to the magistrate's court on 25th November 1987? A. I have never seen the original of this. Q. Do you recognise it as a copy? A. If I hadn't seen the original I wouldn't recognise the copy. Q. Would you care to see the original? A. If I may. Q. Whilst the original is being obtained by the clerk of the court, are you saying you have never had an opportunity to look at the original? A. Well, I have never seen the original, Mr. Temple. (Handed to the witness) Q. Do you recognise your signature on that document? A. Yes, I do. Q. Do you remember signing it? A. I don't actually. Q. You do not remember signing it? A. No. Q. Are you saying you do not remember giving evidence in the magistrate's court? A. I do remember giving evidence, yes. Q. Were you telling the truth? A. I was in a state of - I had been diagnosed by the prison medical authorities at that time as suffering from a psychosis. Q. The question was, were you telling the truth? A. I was doing the very best I could in the circumstances.
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Q. At the time that you gave evidence you were represented by counsel and solicitors? A. Correct. Q. It was your decision as to whether or not you gave evidence; correct? A. No. Q. Are you saying you were forced to give evidence? A. No, I was asked to give evidence on behalf of my wife. I had been told by my solicitors not to give evidence. Q. Was it your decision to give evidence? A. I don't think I was capable of exercising a proper decision at the time considering I was so ill. Q. Your entire case is that you were so under the influence of over-prescribed drugs that your mind did not go with your actions; correct? That is the basis of your case. You were arrested in mid May; correct? A. That is right. Q. We are now dealing with the events in late November that same year. Are you saying that you were still under the influence of drugs? A. It is not my opinion, it is the experts who saw me at the time. I refer you to the various medical reports. Q. Are you saying now that the evidence you gave to the magistrate's court is incorrect? A. I wouldn't place too much reliability on it myself because I know the state of mind I was in. Q. When you said that you were being asked to give evidence for your wife, in your mind did you want to try and protect her? A. One has a natural protective instinct towards one's wife. Q. Had your wife done anything illegal with regard to any blackmail plot against the Cyprus Government? A. Not at all.
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Q. Look at page 159; do you have page 159, Mr. Koupparis? A. Yes, I am looking at it. Q. Whose writing is it? A. At first glance it could be either my writing or someone else's writing. Q. You have had a lot of time to consider these matters: whose writing is it? A. I can tell you this is not my writing. Q. Whose writing is it? A. You had the opportunity of asking any of the co-defendants whose writing it was. That opportunity no longer exists. I cannot tell you whose handwriting it is; I am not a forensic handwriting expert. Q. How long have you been married to your wife? A. Fifteen years. Q. Are you saying you do not recognise her writing? A. I am saying I don't recognise her writing on this piece of paper. Q. Whose writing do you think it might be? A. I thought it was mine, but it is patently obvious it is not now I am fully recovered. Q. Are you agreed then, you are now saying it is not yours? A. It is not my handwriting and your forensics - your own forensic report confirms that. Q. Is it your brother Andre's [sic]? A. I wouldn't know my brother Andre's'[sic] handwriting. Q. Does it look anything like his handwriting? A. I have hardly ever seen his writing to be able to compare. Q. Is it your brother Jason's? A. The same goes for Jason. Q. Does it come to this: it is definitely not your writing; it could be your wife's? A. It is possible, yes.
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Q. Would you look back at the deposition, the evidence you gave in the magistrate's court at page 498. Do you see the final line? A. Yes. Q. "I look at TK28" - which was the original number of this document page 159. "I look at TK28 in the bundle. The writing is mine. It was written in the United Kingdom." First of all, did you tell the magistrate that? A. I don't remember if I actually used those words. Q. You signed this deposition as being correct, Mr. Koupparis. A. Yes, indeed. Q. I ask you again: did you tell the Court that you had written this document? A. On the face of it, yes. I beg your pardon, I said, "The writing is mine", I didn't say I had written it. I said, "The writing is mine". Q. Oh, so your mind, as it were, was working particularly clearly, was it, with regard to that question? A. Not at all, it was very befuddled at that time. Q. Then why are you careful to make such a fine distinction? A. I was not careful at that time but I am explaining what I said in relation to the fact it is not my handwriting, although the words may have emanated as a result of what I told someone to write down, but this is not my handwriting. Although it could be mine it is not. It has been established it is not. It looks sufficiently like my handwriting at that time at a cursory glance for me to have said, "Yes, it is my handwriting". Q. Look at what you say in the next sentence: "It was written in the United Kingdom." Was that true? A. I don't know.
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Q. Then why say it? A. When you are in the state of mind I was in you are asked a question, the first answer comes into your head. You don't have the trial (sic) to stop and think is that a reasonable, logical thing to say? Q. Let us assume that you are telling us the truth in the sense that it is not your writing. Who was it, please, who you had told to write it? A. I don't remember. Q. Let us look at the possibilities. The first obvious possibility is your wife. A. Yes. Q. Did you ask your wife to write it? A. I don't remember. Q. Why should you be asking someone else to write this out for you? A. There is no reason that I can think of. Q. Let me give you a reason. It might be said by anybody who knows this case now that if someone else other than you had written this document, that someone else may have had something to do with this alleged blackmail plot. A. It may be said but that is not necessarily the case. Q. You told us that in your mind you were asked to give evidence on behalf of your wife and you told us that you wanted to protect her. Let me suggest that you were telling a deliberate lie to that magistrate's court when you said it was your writing. You were protecting your wife, were you not? A. My wife didn't need protecting; she has been found not guilty. Q. You were protecting your wife, Mr. Koupparis. A. Mr. Temple, I am not aware my wife is on trial here today. Q. What do you say to my suggestion this was a deliberate lie by you to protect your wife? A. No.
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MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: Let us pause; at that time? A. No, I was not deliberately lying at that time, but my state of mind was not - in my opinion I should never have been allowed to stand up in court and make any statement. The medical evidence shows I wasn't fit at that time. MR. TEMPLE: Was any suggestion made at the magistrate's court on your behalf that you were unfit to give evidence? A. Counsel had never seen me prior to five minutes before I arrived in the courtroom. MR. TEMPLE: Just answer the question: was any suggestion ever made by anybody to that magistrate's court that you were unfit to give evidence? MR. BECKMAN: I think, with respect, the witness should be allowed to answer that in his own way. MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: He can answer it; he can add anything. THE WITNESS: Mr. Temple, you know full well yourself I have had to fight tooth and nail to prove I was fit to plead, and last September I narrowly escaped being unfit under the Mental Health Act, and if I hadn't been able to prove to the satisfaction of the witnesses who will be called, I would be in Broadmoor now. MR. TEMPLE: Mr. Koupparis, what is the answer to the question? A. Would you repeat the question? Q. Just concentrate on the question: was any suggestion made on your behalf that you were unfit to give evidence? A. I didn't hear anyone raise the question. Q. I want to look at your wife's involvement from a slightly different view. Do you remember the logo which was used on
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the telex? A. Yes, there was no telex by the way, it's just a piece of paper with a logo stuck on it. Q. The original of that logo can be traced all the way back to your wife's employment. A. Yes. Q. Not to put too fine a point on it, your wife removed a document from the British High Commission where she worked. A. Not strictly correct. Q. Who took the document out in the first place? A. I took the document from the premises. Q. You went into the British High Commission, did you? A. Yes. Q. You remember it? A. Yes. Q. Clearly? A. It happened before I had the psychosis. This was round about February time. I wasn't fully out of my own identity by that stage. Actually the reason I went there was because I had a panic attack and I couldn't get out of the car that morning and she had to take me to the High Commission so I could calm down. Q. You went into the British High Commission, did you? A. Yes. Q. Did you see your wife? A. I was with my wife. She took me in. Q. How did it come about that that particular set of corres- pondence was taken? A. She had typed one of the letters. I think it is the - I have seen the letter, and they were in a file on the desk. I was there just to have a cup of tea until I recovered and then make my own way. On the front of the file it said "Johnson Matthey". I said to my wife, "Do
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you know anyone who can supply platinum?" and that is how it arose. She said, "Yes, I have just done some letters with platinum". I looked at those letters but the reason photo- copies were taken was something entirely different. The High Commission at the time were looking to sell their photo- copying machine which was an old Rank unit and they wanted to buy a new one. I asked my wife to see if she could find out if they were willing to sell it to me. I wanted to install it in a shop. That is how it came about the photocopies were done. Q. Did your wife know the correspondence had been photocopied? A. I believe that it was actually my wife that photoed [sic] it, only to show me the quality of the photocopying machine. Q. I want to ask you now about another general question relating to your state of mind when you were in London. Do you remember Mr. Beckman was asking you about parking clamps, amongst other matters? A. Yes. Q. Would you look at page 38 in the documents. Would you also look at page 43. On page 38 do you see the writing about a third of the way down: "Department of Transport, Andrew Melville, Marsham Street. Clamp and implement"? A. Yes. Q. Is that your writing? A. Again, this is all done in capital writing and I have never done capital writing. The only time that I have ever done it was during this brief period of time. It isn't my normal handwriting at all. Q. Are you saying you do not recognise your own writing? A. As I said, it isn't my normal handwriting. My normal writing is cursive script.
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Q. Did you write it? A. Probably, yes. Q. Half way down page 43 do you see "Code of practice of boot"? A. Yes. Q. "Legal parameters of booting"? A. Yes. Q. "When do they boot"? A. Yes. Q. That was all with reference to the Denver Boot car clamp, was it not? A. Yes. Q. You have told us in many circumstances and at considerable length that by May of 1987 you were in this drug induced psychosis, totally confused. Are you saying this is just, by way of an example, meaningless jottings? A. These are meaningless in relation to what was going on at the time. Q. You actually wrote to Mr. Melville? A. Yes, I did. Q. I will ask you to look at the content of these letters and I am going to ask you whether or not you consider these to be the product of complete confusion and meaningless jottings. A. Mr. Temple, may we have the original transcripts of these as well so we can see what took place and how laborious it was to produce that letter? MR. TEMPLE: I am just going to ask you to look at the letters with me. MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: We have not been adding things to the bundle. MR. TEMPLE: No, my Lord, this is just one illustration. (To the witness): Mr. Koupparis, may I ask you to look at the letter of 11th May 1987. (Handed to the witness) Do you have a letter which begins, "11th May 1987"? A. Yes.
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Q. Top right hand section: "P. Koupparis, Esq., c/o William Stockler, London WC1". William Stockler were your solicitors at the time? A. Yes. Q. Then we can see it is addressed to Mr. Melville, Room C, Department of Transport, London SW1. "Dear Mr. Melville, Following our recent telephone conversation" - pausing there, it is true, is it not, you did have a telephone conversation with Mr. Melville? A. Indeed I did, on a number of occasions. MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: A little louder if you would. A. Yes, your Lordship, I did. MR. TEMPLE: "Please find enclosed a number of comments ..." (reading). What was the product discussed over the telephone? A. A version of the PIGs in the Nemo report. Q. Are you saying that you never discussed with Mr. Melville parking clamps and other ideas relating to the parking of cars? A. This was my idea (it was a crazy idea) to attach (inaudible) to a car. Q. Let us see what you have written; we will go through it in view of what you said: "Following our recent telephone conversation ... (reading) ... cashless parking system". Is that true? A. Yes, he did mention that. Q. "Although not the reason for your conversation, you may be interested to know ... (reading) ... receiving your comments. Yours sincerely, P. Koupparis." Then you enclosed the paper which we have seen, the note. A. There was somewhat more than this enclosed, Mr. Temple.
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Q. Did you enclose the note which you have? A. I am saying there was quite a lot more enclosed than this, just this note here. Q. Did you compose this letter? A. No, my wife in her statment [sic] has already admitted she actually typed this document. Q. Your wife did nothing of the kind, Mr. Koupparis. A. My wife has said, "My husband asked me to type out some letters", without saying, "The letter to Andrew Melville". Q. Did you compose this letter? A. My wife does most of my short letters and correspondence. I merely tell her what I want done and she puts on my letter. Q. Did you write it out for her before she typed it? A. If you would like to produce the original draft you can see what I did. Q. No, I am asking you the question, Mr. Koupparis. Did you actually tell her the words to type? A. No. Q. Did you give her any script to follow? A. There was some rough notes which were made and they can be seen at the countless revisions, corrections and so on, and finally arrived at something. Q. I want to get this absolutely clear. Let us just look at the letter first. Are you saying this is your wife; your wife typed it? A. My wife typed it, yes. Q. Are you saying it was your wife's idea or your idea? A. No, it was a paranoid delusion. It is nonsense; there was no cashless parking system. Q. Was it your wife's idea or your idea? A. It was my idea. My wife doesn't manufacture parking clamps.
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Q. Exactly. Did you tell her the gist of what to write? A. Yes, I gave her an indication of what I wanted. Q. Does the same apply to the note which we see, again dated 11th May 1989? A. Do you mean if I wrote it? I haven't seen it since the last trial. Q. Please do. (Handed to the witness) A. Yes, this was done in the same way as the first letter. Q. Mr. Koupparis, let me come straight to the point. You know that the Crown's case is to this effect: that at the material time during the middle months of 1987, you were hypomanic but you knew what you were doing and I suggest this is an instance of what you knew. A. No. Q. You knew perfectly well what you were doing here. A. Not at all; this letter proves that point. Q. Just answer the question. A. I am trying to answer it, Mr. Temple. This letter proves I didn't know what I was doing. Q. Are you saying that you had no idea that you were conversing and writing to Mr. Melville about parking clamps? That is my question: consider it carefully please and give us an answer. A. I was writing and conversing with Mr. Melville with a paranoid delusion that I had invented the ultimate parking clamp to solve the world's problems, which was complete nonsense because I have never been involved in anything like this at all. It was merely a delusion. Q. Is the answer in your mind you knew you were discussing the question of parking clamps with Mr. Melville? What is the answer? A. No, I wasn't discussing parking clamps because
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what came up in my mind couldn't by any stretch of the mind be considered a reasonable question of a parking clamp. Q. What did you think you were discussing? A. Commercialisation of the KAC [sic] 3 system, PIGs and (inaudible). Q. What did you think you were discussing with Mr. Melville? A. This letter, as I said, was written by my wife. She put very basic ideas that I gave her into these words. I didn't stand there and dictate this sort of thing. My wife was unaware I was suffering from delusions at the time. Q. Mr. Koupparis, do you remember your own counsel, Mr. Beckman, criticising a witness for not answering a question? A. Yes, indeed. Q. Bear it in mind, would you? A. It goes both ways, doesn't it? Q. It certainly does. I ask you again: are you saying that you had no idea that you were discussing parking clamps and/or parking systems with Mr. Melville? A. I answered the question by saying what I was actually discussing bore no relation to (inaudible). My wife was unaware of that and wrote a letter which appears to make sense. Q. I want to come to the demand documents themselves. First of all, do you accept that you composed them? A. I have always maintained I composed a considerable amount of literature on this subject on my floppy disks. Unfortunately it appears that it is (inaudible). Q. Do you accept that it was your idea; you composed the words? A. Yes. Q. Do you accept it was you who typed the words? A. Yes.
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Q. Do you accept it was you who sent them to the Presidential Palace? A. Yes. Q. Was it you who arranged for a copy to be sent to the Cypriot High Commission in London? A. Yes, with the caveat that I don't agree with what has been purported to have been in the envelope, the entire contents. Q. You told this Court not half an hour ago that you had always maintained that in your mind you had never made any demand within a document. A. Indeed. Q. You added that you were doing it for other reasons. A. Yes. Q. Let us look first of all at page 5 and then page 11. Do you see a paragraph just below the half way mark, "The only way", do you see that? A. Yes. Q. "The only way to stop this attack is by the payment of US $15 million." Would you go to page 11 now, the half way mark. "Cyprus is now facing a danger at the very least equal in magnitude to the Turkish invasion. The difference now is that you have the power to stop it. The Government of Cyprus is invited to pay the sum of US $15 million on behalf of their citizens to ensure that this terrible holocaust is prevented from happening." Then ignore the next few lines. New paragraph: "There will be no negotiations, reductions, extensions, warnings or deadlines." We have established that it was you who typed and composed the demand documents. Are you telling us that this is not a demand? A. Indeed, I went to considerable lengths to make sure no payment could ever be met and that no threat ever existed (inaudible). It is a physical impossibility.
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Q. If it was not a demand, what was it? A. It was an intelligence test and that paragraph that you have just read out is the crux of the matter I was postulating would happen to a government. What negotiation policy does a government adopt when the terrorists decide not to negotiate? It is all very well for the British Government or the Cypriot Government to say, "We don't negotiate with terrorists", but if and when, through the misuse and laxity in our rules and laws, we allow people going outside the socially acceptable democratic system to get hold of weapons of mass destruction, what do we do? What do the public do when a government decides, "We are not going to negotiate?" This was part of my paranoid delusion and I wanted to test the government to see if they were capable of handling the sort of scenario I was postulating, and this is the sort of work I have been doing for years. Q. So in your mind first of all you wanted to test the government? A. Yes. Q. It follows, of course, that this is a test to which they can react? A. Yes, a test which showed whether they were able to see the clues. Q. No, the test received was (inaudible) that you pretend to write and make a blackmail demand; is that what you are saying? A. What I did, I played this as a test to the government. Q. Just pause there; so the test was embodied in this blackmail demand to which you wanted their reaction? A. No.
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Q. How do you explain the words, "You are invited to pay"? A. They cannot pay, that is the whole point of the intelligence test. If they were able to read it and perceive what I wrote that it was nonsense. Unfortunately a third party interceded and, for reasons I mentioned yesterday, the British Government decided to get the Cypriots over and persuade them this was real, even though we all agree now it's nonsense. Q. When you sent that document off to the Presidential Palace, did you think that it contained on the face of it a demand for money? Just "Yes" or "No". A. No. Q. You did not? A. No. Q. You had no idea - you do not think for one moment that contained a demand for money? A. I made sure it didn't by making the dimensions of the currency impossible to pay. Q. So you were thinking about that as well, were you? You deliberately put that in, did you, a deliberate mistake? A. It is not a deliberate mistake, it is an element, a mathematical puzzle and you can work it out for yourself. Q. Are you saying you deliberately thought about the matter and put in an error to the extent that there are no such things as $200 bills? A. Five hundred dollar bills are virtually non-existent. Q. Did you put a $200 bill as a deliberate error? A. I didn't make the mistake; it was obvious I could not benefit. They were to realise $200 bills didn't exist. That is why Mr. Mavrellis was called, because he is the person with the keys to the Central Bank, must know $200 don't exist.
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MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: The question was: did you make a deliberate mistake in putting in the reference to $200 bills? A. Your Lordship, I cannot see it as a deliberate mistake. It is part of the puzzle, as it were. I imagine it would be obvious to anybody, just by looking at it, here we are talking about something that doesn't exist. MR. TEMPLE: When you typed out this demand document, did you make an error and put two page sixes? A. Again, that was part of the sort of clue trail; that has a very significant meaning. Q. That was deliberate also, was it? A. The fact that it has page 5 and 6, they were interposed. In the state of mind I was in that meant something to me. Unfortunately, I was unable to see those who received it couldn't see the same things I was writing, these allusions to other things. It meant something to me; obviously didn't mean the same thing to the people who received it. Q. I want a clear answer, please. Let me put the question so there is no mistake by anybody in this court as to what it was: did you deliberately put in two page sixes? A. No. What I did was I made page 5 into 6 and then --- Q. Was it deliberate? A. Well, there is something like that reverses that situation. Q. Exactly. My question to you is, was it deliberate? A. Yes, it represented MI5 and MI6. Q. Does it follow that the reason you have just given us for sending this document, namely to test as it were the Government of Cyprus' reaction; it was not part and parcel of
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you writing a book for your daughter? A. The reason for the test was so that I could get a job. Q. Will you answer the question? A. I don't see what it has to do with my daughter. Q. Will you answer the question? A. I didn't understand the question. Q. If you are right, you are telling the truth that you were testing the Government of Cyprus' intelligence, testing to see how they would react in this matter, it follows, does it not, it could not have anything to do with you writing a potential book for your daughter? A. Oh, but it could; it certainly could. In the state of mind I was in one thing developed from another and it was flowing uncontrollably. I was not in a position to stem the ideas. An idea would appear out of nowhere, would swell, fill my head, swirl around, become mixed with other ideas and I was impelled (inaudible). It is very difficult for you to understand. I know you have not suffered a psychosis, I hope, and I rely strongly on the respective medical evidence to support what I am saying, that this is what happened. I mean, the mind is a very wonderful organ. Its infinitely flexible imagination can range through the entire sphere of human knowledge and when things go wrong it can run riot and these are the sort of results you can get. Q. Looking back on it, were you saying you were totally confused during March and April? A. Again, it is a difficult question. To me there didn't appear to be any confusion.
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Q. Let me put it to you another way. Let us look at the telphone [sic] calls you made. You appreciate that the jury have heard the tone of voice and the way in which these 'phone calls were made, do you not? A. Yes. Q. You will also appreciate that you had to juggle around in your mind with a number of characters? A. I was not juggling around with characters, characters were juggling around with me. Q. You had to pretend to be on some occasions Symeon [sic] Cambanellos [sic], another occasion Digsby, another occasion Wilkins. A. I can assure you this very fact, that a man is 'phoning up some people with four or five different identities is patently ludicrous for you to suggest anyone was actually trying to do something sensible, was adding thought and reason (inaudible). It destroys the foundation of your calling in saying it was a well thought out organised plan. Q. The fact is that you never got them mixed up. A. How do we know that? All the tapes haven't been disclosed, bits have been edited out of them, conversations - we know someone even changed - all sorts of things have gone on with the tapes. In fact I have a forensic report that suggests some have been edited and fabricated, but I will not argue the point. That is the best we can do. Q. The evidence we have before us is you were not mixing one ID with another in the sense of you getting confused yourself. This is the thread of it. Let me explain what I mean. It had the thread where if you were playing Digsby it was to the
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effect you were going to be Digsby, then introduce Cambanellos [sic]. Cambanellos [sic] was the man who could locate the PIGs and Cambanellos [sic] wanted some money, did he not? A. Cambanellos [sic] offered to send them money, told them not to pay the ransom and asked, as a result of their prompting, on an earlier tape which has not been disclosed, for the money which had been suggested by one of the other negotiators be made available for this. This was suggested to Digsby. MR. TEMPLE: Let us concentrate on this question: when you left the Cypriot High Commission in your mind you thought you had received £250,000, did you not? MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: Did you say "£250,000"? MR. TEMPLE: I apologise, £25,000. (To the witness): When you left the Cypriot High Commission you thought you had £25,000? A. When I actually walked out of the door I had two bundles of money in two pockets which I thought amounted to £5,000. Q. Would you look at page 498, the second to last paragraph: "I anticipated I had obtained £25,000 from the Cypriot High Commission just before I was arrested." Was that true? A. Well, I had been handed an envelope with £25,000 in it. As far as I was concerned, I had to think it if was money that was available to me to spend as I had said I would. The fact that I left 20,000 of it on the table I have been told is not a legal point we can make anything out of. Q. I just want a simple answer to the question. Was it true that you told the magistrate that you anticipated you had obtained £25,000 --- A. Yes.
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Q. --- and had you also made it clear that as Symeon [sic] Cambanellos [sic] you were in a position to locate the PIGs? A. Not in my own words I haven't seen. Q. That is the effect of what you said. A. I have not seen that in writing. I am accepting it without having seen it. I have often asked to be shown where I have said to the High Commissioner I can locate the PIGs for him. Q. No-one has suggested you made that deception to the High Commissioner; you made it principally to Mr. Demetriades. A. I beg your pardon, Mr. Temple, I am charged with deceiving the High Commissioner for Cyprus. Q. No, you are not. A. Well, that is what it says in my indictment. Q. It does not say anything of the kind. I am not going to argue the indictment with you. Would you look, as you have raised the question, at page 13 of the transcript of the telephone conversations. A. Is that part of this exhibit bundle? MR. TEMPLE: No, you will be given a copy. (Handed to the witness) MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: Just before you go on, Mr. Koupparis, are you under the illusion that because you did not make the representation to the High Commissioner himself, therefore you cannot be guilty of Count 2? A. No, your Lordship, I am not saying that. What I am saying is I haven't seen where I have specifically said £25,000 is to find. Q. I thought you were saying that because you had not made it to the High Commissioner, you might not be guilty. A. No, I
Page 8.36
did say I didn't make it to him. Obviously I said very little to the High Commissioner, but I accept he is acting on behalf of the Government of Cyprus. What was the page, Mr. Temple? MR. TEMPLE: Page 13, Mr. Koupparis. So that we can put it in context, just above the half way mark do you see the sentence which begins "This gas"? A. Yes. Q. This is a conversation between you and Superintendent Demetriades. A. This is a summary that has been made by a Cypriot - Anglo-Cypriot - who is a policeman working for Scotland Yard, yes? Q. What does that have to do with it? A. I have always disputed these statements are accurate. Other transcripts have been produced and one can see clearly that the different translators have interpreted the thing in an entirely different way. It is almost impossible to realise that you are looking at the same conversation in some cases. Q. Let us look at the summary, and if it is in any way unfair to you I am sure Mr. Beckman will deal with it. "This gas will be buried underground in reaction chambers and when released can be lethal within two minutes of it coming into contact with human beings or animals. He" - that is you posing as Cambanellos [sic] - "explains that PIGs (poison injection generators) can be detected by use of a helicopter equipped with infra-red cameras. He offers his expertise provided (a) his expenses are met by the Cyprus Government, and (b) everything is secure for him. He asks for arrangements to be made with the Cyprus High Commission in London to pay him some cash in advance."
Page 8.37
A. That is exactly what I have been saying, Mr. Temple. It doesn't say Symeon [sic] Cambanellos [sic] said, "I am going to find the PIGs, pay me £25,000". It says he offers his expertise, expertise in everything, in many, many things, not just this. There were many things Cambanellos [sic] offered to help with. It is with the distribution of free condoms, with the erradication [sic] of rats and mice with his fleas and snakes. Why haven't I been charged with the 100 million profit I promised them? I was suffering from paranoid delusions of grandeur which were induced in me by the drugs I was taking. I was talking nonsense and at that time they knew as well. Q. Mr. Koupparis, no-one has suggested for a moment that you were not suffering from hypomania. A. We dispute I was suffering from hypomania. Q. All I want to investigate with you and with the jury is whether or not you knew you were getting money, whether or not you knew you were making a blackmail demand. Now I will move to another subject. Do you remember the evidence which was given to the effect that you were told by the Cypriot Government officials that they had not received any blackmail demand? That is the evidence we have heard and we also know - and I am shortening it so that we can summarise it - that the effect was that you were going to send a copy of the blackmail demand document via the Cypriot High Commission in London. Correct so far? A. Yes. Q. We also know it was you who sent off the documents. A. Yes, with the caveat ---
Page 8.38
Q. When you sent - I interrupted you. A. With the caveat for the second bundle. MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: There was something else in it? A. I believe there was, your Lordship. MR. TEMPLE: When you sent that second bundle in your mind did you think you were doing anything wrong? A. I truly - I thought I was doing the only thing I could, which was to defuse the situation and let them know that all this Digsby nonsense was complete balderdash. That is the whole reason for that nonsensical piece of paper and everything, the Digsby telex. It is a complete piece of nonsense. No government in the world that calls itself a professional government would ever fall for such a piece of nonsense. I cannot imagine how --- Q. The question was: did you think you were doing anything wrong? A. Not at all. Q. Do you remember Miss Holmes, the young woman from Moore Printcraft? A. Yes, I do. Q. Telling us in evidence, "He did not want me to see what was on the sheets"? A. I didn't realise she had the ability to read minds. Q. You are saying she is wrong about that? A. Photocopiers accept photocopying material face downwards. If I gave her a document face downwards it was because I was putting them on the plate to be copied. You know as well as I do copies go face downwards [sic] and they are handled by the staff before they are given to the customers. She was able to see them at her leisure.
Page 8.39
Q. Let us look at it from a slightly different view. Do you remember the evidence about fingerprints, or lack of them? A. Yes, I do. Q. Do you accept that your fingerprints were found on numerous documents, both at Strickland Court and in Cyprus? A. Yes, I do accept that. Q. Do you accept the evidence of the fingerprint officer that there was a lack of your fingerprints on the demand document? A. Unfortunately this jury doesn't have the benefit of what took place at the previous trial but --- Q. Do you accept the evidence is that your fingerprints were not found on the demand document? A. That is not the evidence, with respect, Mr. Temple. The documents were tested once and they were tested a second time and 14 new sets of finger- prints appeared. Q. Let us go straight to the point I want to make. When you were arrested you had a pair of rubber gloves in your suitcase. A. There was a pair of used rubber gloves in the briefcase. Q. Had you been wearing those gloves when you were preparing the document? A. No, I was not wearing rubber gloves when I went into the shop and that is when I was preparing the document. Q. I suggest that you had gone in your mind to some trouble to make sure fingerprints were not on the document. A. Not at all. I have explained the rubber gloves and the name of the bookbinders is recorded as one of the exhibits. I think it is in Banner Street. They were in my possession when
Page 8.40
arrested; they bind books and I was on my way from Beaconsfield (inaudible) I was carrying around, and as you know yourself from the evidence at St. Ives, I had severe dematitis [sic] of one hand. Whether that was real or not is something else, but they were unable to fingerprint both hands, weren't they? Now, I said right at the beginning, even when I was in the psychotic state, these rubber gloves were to prevent my hands coming into contact with glue and solvent because I was going to take documents away when they were still wet with glue and that is the explanation, the reason I had rubber gloves. In the unused equipment (sic) there was a whole lot of dentists' tools and medical equipment. I was collecting medical equipment because I was trying to buy Dr. Sophocleous' practice. Q. Do you remember giving that explanation to the magistrate? A. I remember it from reading this thing. Q. Was your mind clear then? A. No, my mind was not clear. Q. Is it a true explanation? A. This is something you can check for yourselves. The two witnesses are named, they own the bookbinding company and I had their address on me. Q. Mr. Koupparis, the question is a simple one: did you tell the truth to the magistrate? A. Yes, I did. Q. I want to concentrate on the document you sent up to the High Commission in London. On any view, in your mind you did not think that the Cypriot Government had received the first set of documents. A. I knew that they had received the first set.
Page 8.41
MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: Had or had not? A. Had, had. Cyprus is a small country and I had very good connections in the Cypriot Government at all levels, including the police. MR. TEMPLE: If that was your state of mind, why is it that you were asking whether or not they had received the blackmail document? A. This was as a result of my tape recording of the telephone conversations going on and to be used as the evidence to the press conference when I finally got there to establish they had managed to use the Island - they had failed to respond to (inaudible) April Fool's Day and that was it. As far as I was concerned they failed the test. Q. I will come back to April Fool's Day in a moment. Let us consider the answer you have given. So if one looks at the telephone transcripts it is perfectly clear that you in your mind - just looking at the telephone transcripts - do not think that the demand documents have been delivered; correct? A. No, it is perfectly clear that the Cypriots have not received them and we know that was incorrect, so how can you draw that conclusion? I was the one suffering from the psychosis; what is their excuse? Q. Just concentrate on one question in order to make a point. Let me invite you once again to the transcripts at page 2, Exhibit 17, the conversation of 2nd April. You are posing as Colonel Digsby and Mavrellis tells you he has met the President but the President knows nothing about Force Majeure. Do you remember being told that? A. As I say, I have to rely on these summaries to remember the actual words that were given. I don't think anyone would expect anybody
Page 8.42
to remember word for word telephone conversations after two years - over two years. Q. Turn over the page. Again just below the half way mark: "Mr. Constantinou tells Digsby that having been unable to speak to the President he spoke to Mr. Mavrellis who confirmed that he had been in communication with Digsby. Mr. Mavrellis saw the President, who assured him that Force Majeure and Commander Nemo meant nothing to him. Mr. Constantinou interrupted a meeting in order to confirm that the President knew nothing about Commander Nemo or Force Majeure. Digsby wants to know if there is a secure telex number he can use to communicate with Mr. Constantinou. Mr. Constantinou tells him that there is no telex facility at the Presidential Palace, but there is a secure telex at the Foreign Ministry in Nicosia. Mr. Constantinou explains to Digsby that all the embassies have direct lines with the Foreign Ministry and if he wished something sent he could do it through any of the embassies." Then the address is given of the London High Commissioner and the telephone number. I suggest, Mr. Koupparis, that at this stage in your mind you thought that your original demand had gone astray. A. I was fully aware that it had arrived. Q. Who had told you? A. I spoke to two. Q. Take this slowly; who told you? A. I spoke to two Cypriot ministers. Q. Names? A. Iacovou - I don't know how he spells his name, I.A.C.O.V.O.U. MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: Someone gave it yesterday. A. I think the English version is Jacob. MR. TEMPLE: You mentioned a second minister. A. Michaelides. Q. When did you speak to those two? A. It was the same day that I first spoke to Mavrellis.
Page 8.43
Q. On 2nd April? A. Yes. I had to establish whether they had realised it was a hoax and done nothing or whether they thought it was real. In that case I had to excuse (sic) the situation. I couldn't leave it hanging like that. It was never my intention to cause any stress or anything, it was merely what I felt was my duty to the people of Cyprus. Q. You wanted to be helpful to them? A. Indeed I did. I wanted to reunify the island paradise I remember. Q. In your mind are you telling us that you wanted to assist the Government of Cyprus as from 2nd April? A. Right from the beginning. First of all I wanted to get a job with them but as the delusion progressed and became grander and grander it was eventually my belief I would be given the Presidency of Cyprus. It was a totally invented belief but I believed. Q. Would you answer my question? Did you want to assist the Government of Cyprus as from 2nd April? A. I cannot say what the date is; I have said to Mr. Beckman I do not have a calendar of these events. That unfortunately was blotted out by the drugs and right at the early stages I remembered events, I didn't know which order they had taken place in, odd recollections, so I cannot say to you what I thought, other than what my motives were for doing what the evidence suggests I did. Q. You kept your plan going right up to the date of your arrest. Did you ever say to the Cyprus Government, "April Fool"? A. Yes. Q. Did you? A. Yes.
Page 8.44
Q. You indicated it to them, did you? A. The "Mission Accomplished" letter. Q. You never sent it, did you? A. Yes, I did. Q. To whom? A. To the President. Q. When? A. It was sent the day before April Fool's Day, which one can determine that as being what, the 30th, 31st of the previous month. Q. Are you now saying this was indeed all a joke? A. No, I would love to be able to say it was a joke. Q. You cannot have it both ways. A. Yes, I can. I can have it both ways because I was in a state of mind when many things can take place at different levels and one doesn't know what one is doing sometimes, although (inaudible) this April Fool's punchline as it were. My intention originally was to do something historical for Cyprus, to establish my ideas which I thought were worth listening to, and I felt I had something very valuable to offer but, you know, everything got scrambled up and the way it has come out, quite frankly I think you will have to agree, the scenario, from prison, doesn't quite make sense. Q. I want to cover one other matter with you on this idea of April Fool. In your mind did you think it was a joke? Did you want to play a joke? A. I included a lot of humour in the demand document, what is called technical intelligence. It is if you like - unfortunately I was unable to see the people receiving that would not find it - would not be able to see the points that I was making. You see, I could say things in words and sentences, allusions that were so remote
Page 8.45
I do not expect anyone would even see them now. I can explain them but there was a whole bunch of allusions to MI5, history, to do with space and things which are in there, and I can explain them all and you can see they make sense but nobody pointed them out. I could see them at the time. Q. If you wanted to help the Cyprus Government, can you explain why the purported telex on page 3 was sent with the copy documents? Look at it, you have gone to a lot of trouble to produce this document. First of all, let me ask you about this document. Were you thinking about this as you wrote it? A. Mr. Temple, may I see the original typed exhibit? This is something I asked for yesterday and it was not made available. Q. Yes, of course. You might need the original to answer this question. A. It does make a lot of difference to my recollection of this document. MR. TEMPLE: Very well, let him have the original. MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: While it is coming we will work off the copy. MR. TEMPLE: The question is: when you typed that document were you thinking about what you were typing? A. The typewriter wasn't operating on its own. Q. What is the answer to the question, Mr. Koupparis? A. Well, obviously some action on my part was necessary if I did indeed type this to get a little letters to hit the paper. Q. Were you thinking about what you were typing? A. Mr. Temple, I wasn't in control of my mind. If I were to say "Yes" to that question, I would have to qualify it by
Page 8.46
saying that thoughts in my mind were precipitated by the drug induced delusions I was having. Had I been my normal self I wouldn't have got myself into this ridiculous situation. Q. You know very well it was a dangerous question. A. Yes, because we are playing with words. You are making a word play out of what to me was an horrific nightmare. Q. I have asked you that question because of the evidence that was given at an early stage in this trial, first of all by Mr. Roy Moore. Do you remember you asked him how to spell "Cairo"? A. Yes, I remember reading a statement to that effect. Q. Do you remember him telling us that you made the remark, "I am composing as I go along"? A. May I ask, was this --- Q. Do you remember that evidence? A. Did that come out at this trial or the previous trial? Q. This trial. Do you remember the evidence? A. Yes. Q. It was true that you knew what you were doing when you were typing this telex. A. When you say "knew", no, I was acting with false information, delusions. I didn't have control of my own mind. Q. You were making a second demand in your mind, Mr. Koupparis. You were making a fresh demand when these documents were sent off to London. A. There was never a stale demand, Mr. Temple. Q. Look at the final paragraph. "We have man inside FM now in deep cover so please keep matter dark. Expect to move on next operation and detain group including Comm. Nemo. Suggest you pay demand which shall be recovered once danger has been eliminated."
Page 8.47
There was not any need for you to include that document with the copy, was there? A. Yes, there was. Q. Why? A. Because this shows what a load of nonsense the whole thing is. The demand cannot be paid. Look at the money it is saying to have; $200 bills and how are you going to pay $200 bills? Q. You missed the point. Everybody accepts - certainly the Crown accepts - that your mind was, in layman's language, working in overdrive, suffering from hypomania. A. No. Q. The point I am investigating is whether or not you thought you were making a blackmail demand. A. I never considered it was a blackmail demand, so the fact I am sending a report at their request with a little bit of nonsense, and equally they know it is nonsense (inaudible). Q. Why include your little bit of nonsense? Why include the final paragraph? A. Never mind the final paragraph, look at the letter. Q. Just concentrate on the question: why include it? A. There was a man sitting in a shop spontaneously typing up a piece of nonsense, not mad but quite calm (inaudible) by the security services not realising they were dealing with a man who was very, very ill. Q. Are you telling us, then, that this was just a spontaneous letter which was off the top of your head? A. It was absolutely spontaneous. Q. Look at page 4 of the transcripts of the telephone conversations; do you have it? A. I am looking at page 4 of the summaries, yes.
Page 8.48
Q. The summary of 9th April. I will start four or six lines from the top of the page. "Mr. Constantinou tells him that the High Commissioner informed them by telephone that the parcel was received by him and despatched to Cyprus, but it has not yet arrived at the President's office. Digsby claims that Commander Nemo tried to make contact with the President's office but was unsuccessful." This is what I want you to concentrate on: "Digsby wants to know whether Troodos mountain is covered in snow. This is confirmed by Mr. Constantinou." Would you turn back to page 3, the telex. You see that it starts, "Our intelligence indicates that system REC-3 now in Cyprus operation delay due to heavy snow covering some PIG units." Are you saying now that all this was simply totally random confused comings and goings by you with no thread? A. Are you aware that "Snow" was the first code name for the pig farm that MI5 was running in Richmond, Surrey, on Ham Common, and their code was 020? Q. What is the answer to my question? A. This is part of an allusion to MI5 involved in this, and Snow, the name of the (inaudible) was Owen and you can extract "Owen" out of a name which backwards means "omen", which is the portent of things to come, good or evil, and that is what it is all about, Mr. Temple. It is a man whose mind has run riot and the words he is using do not even make sense in any instant now, two years after the event really, but "snow" doesn't mean snow on the mountains, it means "Operation Double-cross". The $20 and
Page 8.49
$200 bills is what it is all about. You ask me if it was deliberate. If you make $200 (inaudible) you end up with 020, which is the pig farm on Ham Common. That is the complexity of ideas that were running through my mind. Q. Do you understand the purpose of that question? A. Yes, I do understand the purpose of the question, but I am trying to illustrate to you the depth and complexity of the way that the ideas were forming in my mind. Q. You understood that question very well, did you not, Mr. Koupparis? Let me make the suggestion so that you can deal with it. Despite your mind being in overdrive, when one looks at the threads of your activities they weave together, do they not? This letter, this purported telex we have been looking at, has its place in your scheme. A. There was no scheme as such. When I let them off the hook - even the logo is absurd. There is a logo from the British High Commission in Cyprus delivered to the Cyprus High Commission in Britain (inaudible). Everyone can see it has a big hole punched through it, which is the way the Commission cancells [sic] passports. This is my way of saying, "It's not right". Q. Is that another way of thinking about matters, saying, "I will put them to the test"? A. Not at all. The point with this logo was to make a logo (inaudible) the correspondence in the circle at the top. Q. Just address your mind to the question I asked you: was it in your mind to use the logo as a little test, as it were, to deliberately use the logo with a little hole punched to test
Page 8.50
them? A. Only spontaneously. It wasn't something I planned, it just precipitated itself when I found myself confronted with the typewriter by pure chance. I could never have known this in a million years of planning. When the typewriter that Tina Holmes or her stepfther [sic] showed me to that day had a type face that might look like a - what would I (inaudible) the type face on that machine produced anything that looked like a telex. It was not in my control, whatever I had to do, had to do in a few seconds when I saw that telex machine and sat down to type. That is what I call spontaneous. Q. I have one other question to put to you regarding the telex. Do you accept that you were on frequent occasions suggesting during the course of the telephone conversations that the demand be paid? Just "Yes" or "No". A. Digsby asked them to consider the alternatives. He never, as far as I am aware, never, ever said to them "Pay the demand". All he has done is said, "What are your alternatives? What do you think? Prepare yourselves. You may have to pay the demand." But Cambanella always said, "Don't pay it, never pay it. We will get them. Don't pay it", and even Cambanella said, "I don't want to deal with you. I don't want to help you", and they said "No", they insisted. Over the course of six weeks the Cypriot Government managed to drag out April Fool's for six weeks in this matter and at the end of the day the people of Cyprus showed exactly what they thought about the matter because President Kyprianou is no longer President. I don't mean that in a vicious way, but as
Page 8.51
you know, a huge political scandal developed out of this matter when it became apparent that to spend so much money and so much effort in tracking down one man who obviously had been a psychiatric patient for several - for two years was suffering from whatever it was - no-one knew whether it was adverse effect of drugs or complete raving insanity, but it has taken me two years to prove all that happened to me was an adverse reaction to drugs, and on the top of that I have to prove to you what a little piece of paper with a hole in it means two years after the event. Q. I want to ask you quite shortly about your movements in Cyprus before you came to this country. Do you accept that you went to Nicosia on 22nd March? A. I lived in Nicosia. Q. Do you accept that you went to the Hilton on 22nd March? A. I often go to the Hilton. I am a paid-up member of their health club, my entire family is, and I do often go to the Hilton. Q. Where did you post the demand documents? A. I don't have primary knowledge of where it was posted, but looking at the various bits of evidence and things, I can say it was posted at the Central Post Office in Nicosia. Q. Did you post them? A. I don't remember having posted them but obviously I did at that time because it was mentioned. I think Digsby told them where it had been posted from. Q. When you bought the ticket, did you appreciate that you were paying for excess luggage? A. You know, we have already bought the matter up, that matter totally disregards ---
Page 8.52
Q. Mr. Koupparis, the question is, did you appreciate that you were paying for excess luggage? A. What I appreciated I was doing was setting up the punch-line to the intelligence test. It wasn't a question of money to me if I could save Cyprus. MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: Setting up what? A. The punch-line for the intelligence test on one level and on another level actually buying myself a ticket to go to London with. MR. TEMPLE: I just want you to look at page 18 of the demand documents. A. You mean page 18 of the exhibit bundle? Q. Yes, please. Again, just below the half way mark, "We have the equivalent destructive power"; do you have it? A. Yes. Q. Starting with the next sentence. "We cannot believe that any nation would commit genetic suicide for the sake of 100 kilogrammes of paper." You wrote those words, did you not? A. Yes. Q. Would you now please look at your calculations which you made and we can see at page 292. Whatever the mathematics may ultimately be, Mr. Koupparis, do you accept that these were working out the weight of Cyprus pounds? A. Yes. Q. You also accept your calculations were also looking at 100 kilogrammes? A. Yes. Q. Finally, I want to ask you about Symeon [sic] Cambanellos [sic]. Was the position that back in the family there was a connection with Cambanellos [sic]? A. Yes. Q. You of course will have looked carefully at the way in which the indictment was framed, and the allegation is that you were using the name Symeon [sic] Cambanellos [sic] for everyday practical
Page 8.53
purposes in London. Did you book in any of the hotels as Symeon [sic] Cambanellos [sic]? A. I may have done. Q. Which ones? A. I know I stayed at a number of hotels which do not appear in the depositions and statements. I was under the impression I stayed at the Royal Lancaster Hotel and also the Royal Garden Hotel. Certainly there are bits of paper with writings on them in the unused material, but I don't know what names I used. Q. Have you any documentation to say you booked in as Symeon [sic] Cambanellos [sic]? A. None has been released by the prosecution but there are many things that haven't been released. Q. Did you conduct any of your correspondence regarding business activities in the name of Symeon [sic] Cambanellos [sic]? A. Yes, I have used the name Cambanella [sic] as a business name. Q. In London? A. Yes, it is registered in the United Kingdom as a business name. Q. Have you any correspondence to show you were using the name Symeon [sic] Cambanellos [sic] in London for business purposes during May 1987? A. I have correspondence to show I used the name Cambanellos [sic] in the dock up there if I may be allowed to --- Q. Certainly, for business purposes? A. Yes, for business purposes. Q. Show me. A. By your leave, sir? MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: Yes. (The witness returned to the dock) Perhaps it would be easier if I asked the defence. (To the witness): The right thing to do is to come back again. Leave your papers there and somebody will try and find it. We can continue with the questions until that is found.
Page 8.54
MR. BECKMAN: It might save time to mention it to Mrs. King [sic] so she can try to find it while he is in the witness box. (The witness returned to the witness box) MR. TEMPLE: On the subject of Cambanellos [sic], do you remember that during the course of the conversations you had you used the phrase that you wanted to use an assumed name? A. Yes. Q. Why did you do that? A. I cannot explain why, but at some point I began - the loss of identity was so complete that I began to doubt my own identity. I mean, I really - one of the things about this case is coincidence if you like, so the fact I used an assumed name, which means anybody - I did feel like anybody at times and I doubted the fact I was Cambanella to the point where I actually persuaded myself this was also the same as all the other identities in a sense. Q. There was no secret in your mind about the name; you were explaining during the course of these telephone conversations what the name meant, were you not? A. Yes, exactly, but I actually --- Q. You were thinking about the matter. A. But there were times I actually called myself Nemo. Q. Of course there were. A. Quite openly without heeding it to people who knew me and, you know, you have to appreciate if this was a real blackmail and if I had gotten away with $15 million everyone would have known who I was because I had gone all over the West End of London calling myself Nemo. Q. You were explaining to Demetriades about Nemo. A. The deriviation [sic] of the word.
Page 8.55
Q. Look at page 15 of the telephone transcript. Before we look at this, were you accustomed to using plays on words, puns? A. Not before this. Q. You are aware, are you not, it is a classic symptom of hypomania for a sufferer to enjoy the use of punning or plays on words? A. Yes. Q. Not drug induced hypomania, endogenous hypomania. A. It also happens in drug induced. Q. It happens in endogenous hypomania. A. I was not suffering from endogenous hypomania. Q. So you say. It may be it was a bit of both. A. I don't think so. I don't think I have ever suffered from any mental illness. Q. I just want to deal with it because it may be important to lay the foundation. At the top of page 15, "According to him 'Di-Tox' can be interpreted as 'double toxic' or 'die tox' i.e. toxic death. That is a nice play on words. A. Yes, and it is typical of the sort of things that were going through my mind. Q. Look at page 305 in the document just by way of another example. A. Is this Exhibit 43? Q. Yes, page 305. You see a list of words: "An over the border safe", i.e. a receptacle. A. "Over the border switch"? Q. No, below that. "An over the border safe", i.e. receptacle for putting money in. Then the last line, "How safe can you get"? A. Yes. Q. Classic, is it not? A. Classic of what? I would say it is classic of a drug induced condition.
Page 8.56
Q. I want you to deal with two final matters. You are aware, are you not, that the Crown's case is that you did not include any other enclosures when you sent up the copy demand document to London, other than the telex? A. Again, I haven't been shown the original document. Q. Your case --- A. Why are you avoiding showing me the original document, Mr. Temple? We know why but I would like the jury to know why. Q. Mr. Koupparis, just concentrate on my question. You are saying that included in the documentation sent up to London was a photostat from a magazine? A. Yes. Q. I suggest that you have carefully woven that in your evidence to give some credence to the fact in your mind of a joke. Let me make it clear: I suggest to you that at no time did you include in the documents sent up to the High Commissioner any photostat from a magazine. A. The witnesses claim I photocopied it on that day and it exists in the unused material, the original copy. Q. You may well have photographed a magazine on that day. What I am suggesting is --- A. Very well, for this joke. Q. I am suggesting that you never sent up that document about the April Fool's joke to the Cypriot High Commission. A. It would not make the prosecution case any stronger if I had, would it? Q. I want to move on to one other matter. You remember you were telling us that the minister to whom you spoke was Mr. Jacob, Iacovou? A. Yes.
Page 8.57
Q. And you are in no doubt at all that the effect of the conversation between you was that he was saying in terms to you, "The demand documents have been received in Cyprus"? A. No, or --- Q. Just think about it carefully before you answer the question. A. I'm afraid I don't remember the content of the conversation at this stage. MR. TEMPLE: I am not asking you about the content, I am asking about the gist of it. You were very firm on it yesterday. I want to see if you confirm my recollection. Are you telling us when you had a conversation with Mr. Jacob I am being correct --- MR. BECKMAN: I thought it was Iacovou. MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: Yes, but he Anglicized [sic] it. MR. TEMPLE: Let us call him Iacovou. You had a conversation with Iacovou in which you told him in terms the Cyprus Government had received the document? A. What I said - I spoke to two ministers and between the two I was able to ascertain the Cypriots were aware of what was going on. I don't think they said to me they had actually received the document. MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: What you said was this: "I knew they had received the first set from conversations with three ministers, Iacovou, Foreign Affairs, Michaelides, Minister of the Interior, and Veniamin, the Attorney General". A. No, I thought I indicated Veniamin was a former Minister of Defence and he was not aware of what was going on. The Attorney General was Karaghiorges [sic]
Page 8.58
MR. TEMPLE: I will ask for the note; I was on my feet this morning. (To the witness): Do you remember that I asked you in terms the names of the two ministers who had told you that they had received copies, or a copy had been received by the Cypriot Government? A. They did not say that a copy had been received; they said that they were aware of whatever it was that we were discussing to give me enough information to know they had received the original documents. Q. Are you now saying that it was merely an impression that you received? A. As I say, I cannot remember the original conversation. All I do know is that at that point I knew for sure that the Cypriots had received it. There was another - I also spoke to somebody else I forgot to mention yesterday, a parliamentary candidate who is very close to me, Mr. Andreas Halloumas, and evidence that has been given in the statements shows I was 'phoning him up non-stop and talking to him for many, many hours and he became extremely concerned about my conversations. Now, Halloumas is very deeply connected with politics and he also gave me a lot of information to indicate exactly what I suspected, which is what I said yesterday, that they had definitely received the first document. Q. Let us go back to the enquiry concerning Mr. Iacovou. I want to know exactly what your evidence is with regard to the conversations you had with him. A. Well, I remember they accepted, or appeared to accept - one never knows what is in someone's mind; I will not make that assumption - that they
Page 8.59
accepted Digsby was genuine and that from the conversation I received - the first set of documents, I gathered, had been received. Q. You are qualifying. You gathered from him? A. Yes, I left this conversation knowing in my mind that these documents - by the end of that day I knew the Cypriots had definitely received this document. MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: This is what I think you said: "I knew they had received the first set. I was asking to use it as evidence at a press conference but they failed the test. I was fully aware that these had arrived. I spoke to two ministers, Iacovou and Michaelides." A. Yes, in fact I spoke, as I said, also to Andreas Halloumas who was a parliamentary candidate at the forthcoming elections. MR. TEMPLE: Did you speak to Iacovou about the press conference? A. No, the press conference I didn't discuss with him at all. Q. What did you discuss with him? A. You can get the flavour of the conversation, that Digsby was making an attempt - looking at the first - in fact, the first call that Mavrellis received is not recorded but in general the conversation he had with Mavrellis was the same sort of thing that would have taken place with the others; all of them, not just the two, Iacovou and Michaelides. Q. With regard to Iacovou, you are saying he appeared to accept that Digsby was genuine; correct? A. Yes, as Mavrellis did. Whether Mavrellis really thought he was genuine or not, who knows?
Page 8.60
Q. And that you gathered from the conversation with Iacovou that the demand document, had been received at the palace? A. I cannot say whether it was directly from Iacovou or Mr. Michaelides, or from a combination of both of them, plus what I received from Halloumas. Q. Why did you say earlier that you knew they had received the first document from conversations with Iacovou and Michaelides? A. And I add to that Halloumas. Q. Why did you mention Iacovou's name? A. Because I 'phoned him. I 'phoned his office. You have in the unused material index cards with numbers and the names of the various Cypriot ministries. Q. What else did you say to Iacovou? A. As I say, I do not remember the exact conversation that we had. It was introducing myself to Colonel Digsby. Q. Have you ever met him face to face? A. I must have seen him on various occasions. I may even have been introduced to him but I don't remember him really. The other minister I mentioned I do know and I have met on a number of occasions face to face. Q. Finally I want to ask you about a matter you raised about the driving licence, or what you thought was a driving licence. Would you look at page 196. You say you were staying at the Inter Continental Hotel and you tried to hire a Mercedes; is that right? A. Yes. Q. And that you used this document as what? A. I was asked for proof of my identity and I produced this as being a Cypriot driving licence.
Page 8.61
Q. The gist of this is that it reads in translation: "I confirm that this person uses the following drugs with the following instructions", and that is the gist of it. A. I beg your pardon, it says, "Husband to take as prescribed these drugs at the following doses", and Kiki [sic] is my wife. Q. Did you have any difficulty in understanding this particular document? A. Did I have any difficulty? Q. Yes, you knew perfectly well it was not a driving licence. A. Then why did I try to hire a car with it? Q. Did you think this was a driving licence in your mind? A. Yes, I presented this as evidence of my identity as Mr. Miller and it had my photograph on it. Q. Mr. Miller? A. Yes. Q. Did you have any documentation with his name? A. Yes, I did have something that said "Miller". Q. You certainly did. Think about it; what was it? A. It was a driving licence. MR. TEMPLE: My Lord, I wonder, in view of the answers he has given with reference to Mr. Iacovou, that I can ask your Lordship to adjourn until two o'clock? MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: Yes. You have nearly finished? MR. TEMPLE: I have, my Lord. MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: I want to ask you one or two things; I am a little mystified on some aspects. You are obviously an intelligent man, I think we would all agree, and you are not insane. You know that because you were examined and were confirmed fit to plead and you are perfectly fit to plead. I understood you to say that this was a serious test of the
Page 8.62
efficiency of the Government of Cyprus, performed when you were affected by drugs. That is your case, is it not? A. Yes. Q. That is entirely your case, that it was a serious test of the Cypriot Government, done by you when you were so much affected by drugs that you would not have done it otherwise? A. I deeply regret having done it. Q. And wasting everybody's time, I am sure. A. Indeed, your Lordship. Q. Just assume that a court were to find, in Mr. Beckman's phrase, that this document is a lot of rubbish, you accept, do you not, that everyone involved took this very seriously? A. I do, your Lordship, and I make no criticism of anyone who did take this seriously. It was my inability to see how serious it was. I was unable to comprehend what would happen and the serious consequences from what I thought I was doing was perfectly justified. Q. You accept that right up to the moment of your arrest, and indeed at this trial the High Commissioner's evidence which we all heard, that everybody was very upset about what was happening and was taking it seriously? A. Indeed, your Lordship. Q. Whatever the truth may be about the intention of your document, they were taking it seriously. A. Indeed, and I can see that very clearly. I make no excuse in that respect, your Lordship. MR. BECKMAN: Before your Lordship rises, perhaps we can deal with the letter which has been found. (Handed to the witness)
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MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: Is that the one? A. Yes, your Lordship, it is my British letter headed paper. MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: Keep it there. Mr. Beckman or Mr. Temple will ask you questions about it later. Did you want to address me about something when the jury have gone? MR. TEMPLE: Yes, my Lord. (The jury left the court) MR. TEMPLE: My Lord, it is only a very short matter. Your Lordship will, I think, recollect that certainly the thrust of the defendant's evidence was that he had spoken to these three ministers, including Iacovou, and I certainly received the firm impression from my note that he was saying in terms that all three, especially Iacovou, had told him that the demand document had been received. MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: When I say I do not agree, you will understand that my impression was from conversations with all three of them he was satisfied the document had been sent and he was, either by design or unconsciously, keeping his options open. MR. TEMPLE: Your Lordship knows the Crown's view as to the nature of this case and the short position is simply this: it actually so happens that the minister in question, Mr. Iacovou, will be in London on Tuesday. May I say straight away I hope I shall be the last one to prolong this trial and I would not dream of calling him in rebuttal unless it was for a good reason, but what I wanted to do was during the course of the adjournment consider the position.
Page 8.64
MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: That is my impression, for what it is worth. I do not have a detailed note but I think at the time he was not deigning to tell us which one told him. He was keeping his options open. That was my impression. MR. TEMPLE: My Lord, whilst on my feet, may I say there will be no delays with regard to the Crown's ability to cross-examine the electrical expert who I understand Mr. Beckman will be calling. (The trial was adjourned for a short time) PANOS SYMEON [sic] KOUPPARIS: Recalled Further cross-examined by Mr. Temple Q. Mr. Koupparis, there are three final matters with which I want you to deal. Would you have in front of you the letter- head which you produced. Just so that the jury can appreciate the position, would you please tell them the address on that letterhead? A. The address is 57 Rythe [sic] House Street, London SW1. Q. Did you have access to or were you using those premises --- A. I was living there. Q. Just wait for the question, please. Did you have access to or were you using those premises in January to April 1987? A. No. Q. When did you vacate your usage of those premises? A. I cannot remember now; it was quite a while back. Q. It was a long while ago, 1981, 1982. That is approximately correct, is it not? A. Yes, I'm not exactly sure but it was certainly before I went to Cyprus. Q. Five years before? A. Yes.
Page 8.65
Q. Cambanella was the name of the company you were purporting to operate. A. It is a registered business name in the United Kingdom. Q. I will ask you the same question again. Were you at any time using Symeon [sic] Cambanellos [sic] as your practical and everyday name during the months of January to May 1987? A. Yes, wherever there is a reference to Symeon [sic] Cambanellos [sic] in the depositions and the exhibits I was using that as my practical and everyday name, because that is what I believed it was. Q. Secondly, do you remember I invited your attention to the correspondence you had with Mr. Melville? A. Yes. Q. I would like you to look at two further letters, document pages 166 and 167. The document on page 166, was that written or typed by you? A. It may have been. I'm not terribly certain who actually typed it, but it would have been done on my behalf. Q. Who would be responsible for the wording of the letter? A. I don't think it was the same situation as existed with the other letter at all. Q. The question, Mr. Koupparis, was who was responsible for the wording of the letter? A. I believe that it was a lady called Carol who helped me on that occasion to do some typing. Q. Did you dictate it to her? A. I think what happened is that not so much dictated it but while she was typing I was speaking out the words and then she was reading back what was typed, and I do remember we had to go through several copies until we had the final draft as it were, and then she typed
Page 8.66
and you can see there is an awful lot of mistakes on these copies. She wasn't particularly good. Q. Over the page to 167. Had you had any contact with Mr. Collischon [sic] or anyone else at Filofax with regard to this letter? A. Yes, I telephoned them a number of times. Q. What did you want of them? A. I wanted the exclusive distributorship of all the Filofax products. Q. Once again, would the position be that whoever may have physically typed that letter, it was at your behest? A. Yes. Q. Finally, can we go back to 159? I just want to look at the wording of this letter with you again. We are agreed that it was at your behest "You have now had" - then brackets - "of weeks to evaluate our offer". Clearly this would have been written around 6th or 7th April? A. Not necessarily. Q. Why not? A. Why put it down to 5th, 6th April? Q. It is consistent with being written on 6th, 7th April. A. Not at all, Mr. Temple. It merely assists the prosecution case to try and prove it was written --- MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: Tell us what is the date. A. I have no idea what the date is, your Lordship, but I cannot see any reason why it should have been written on the 5th or 6th. MR. TEMPLE: The reality is it is not going to be written before 6th April, otherwise the word "weeks" would not be there. A. I don't see the logic of that. It could have been written immediately afterwards. Q. "You have now had so many weeks to evaluate our offer." It would suggest the person who had received the offer has had it for more than one week; correct? A. Not necessarily.
Page 8.67
Q. Is that a reasonable interpretation? A. No, I wouldn't have said so. Q. Let us go on: "The time for hesitation is now over. You must now act. A copy of the report is enclosed in the event that you have lost the original." If, as you maintain, you were told that the original had indeed been delivered, why did you use that phrasing? A. This to me is obviously - the way it says, "Don't laugh, you have succeeded in losing half your island", is a reference to the fact they failed the test and they just --- Q. Let me ask you to pause, Mr. Koupparis. I hoped the question was simple and I could have directed your mind to answer. Will you please try and answer the question? A. Yes, sorry. You must have misunderstood the question if you weren't happy with my answer. Would you rephrase it? Q. I was not happy with the answer. The words at which I am asking you to look are, "You must now act. A copy of the report is enclosed in the event you have lost the original." Why was that form of words used if in your mind you had been told and accepted that the original demand document had been delivered? A. For exactly the same reason that Digsby always played along with the fact that they were denying they received the report. Q. When do you say this letter was written? A. I cannot say with any certainty when it was written. Q. You see the final paragraph: "Our next communication which will follow shortly". Was that a reference to the purported telex sent up to the High Commission in London? A. No.
Page 8.68
Q. Because the dates would match, would they not? A. That would be a convenient interpretation but I do not see how you can jump to this conclusion. This could have been many weeks after the event, just as an aid memoire [sic] for the joke aspect, "Don't laugh, you have succeeded in losing half your island." RE-EXAMINED BY MR. BECKMAN Q. Mr. Koupparis, just a few matters I want to ask you. I want to go back to the beginning of your evidence just to cover a few items that might have arisen. When you were in the magistrate's court you told us, in reply to Mr. Temple, that your lawyers advised you against giving evidence in the magistrate's court. If I may say so, 99.9 times one does not, but your wife's lawyers wanted you to do so? A. Yes, it was suggested and I agreed. Q. So is this right or wrong: what you were doing was on behalf of your wife at that time? A. I was receiving a considerable amount of pressure from the entire family at that time, because of course they were very distressed by how my wife had been drawn into this and the fact that she spent nine weeks in prison previously. It was a tremendous amount of pressure on me from members of the family, so I felt, you know, I had a duty to do whatever I could. Q. We now know that your wife has been released by direction not guilty. Now I want to come on to something else. You remember you were referred to the document which refers - you were asked about a document you had written to some company or other relating to a parking clamp; do you follow? A. This is to the Ministry of Transport.
Page 8.69
Q. It was put to you about how important it was and so on, the clarity of it. Now tell me this: the parking clamp itself, did it exist? A. Only in my imagination. Q. So that had the Minister of Transport said, "Let us see it", the joke is on them, it would not have existed? A. I would have been in considerable difficulties at that point. Q. Equally, had someone said to you, "Right, now let us see a PIG in Cyprus", did any exist? A. There were no PIGs in Cyprus. Q. Let me take you to something else, the $200. A question was put about the $200 bills. This was the question: "Did you deliberately put in an error concerning this?" That was the way it was put to you. Now let me reverse it in simple English, with respect: did you put it in deliberately? A. Indeed, it was a $200 bill, a non-existent $200 bill. Q. I wanted the question reversed so it is easier to answer. Let me now ask another question: page 498. You were asked a question several times about this at the bottom, "I anticipated I had obtained £25,000 from the Cypriot High Commission just before I was arrested". You were not asked about the second sentence. Would you read it because it relates to the £25,000. A. "I was going to buy certain items I felt I needed and take to Cyprus for the use of the Cypriot Government. Q. Who was speaking there? A. That was me; I was speaking. Q. You were asked in relation to the first sentence if you were telling the truth; do you recall that? A. Yes.
Page 8.70
Q. I will now ask you in relation to the second sentence, equally were you telling the truth? A. That is what I believed. Q. I want to now take you to page 153. That letter is dated 1st April 1987. You were asked so far as that letter is concerned whether in fact it had been sent. It was suggested it had not. Do you believe it had been, or not? A. As far as I am aware it was sent. Q. Do you know when it was sent, or not? A. In order to have arrived on 1st April it would have to have been sent the very day or two earlier, and in fact I made arrangements in Cyprus for it to be posted. Q. Posted to where? A. To the Presidential Palace. MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: Was this found in Cyprus? MR. BECKMAN: This was found in London. This was a copy, I believe, of one that was found. THE WITNESS: Yes. MR. BECKMAN: It is dated 1st April. Why did you use the phrase, as far as you can recall, in the fourth paragraph, "We call it the 'piggy bank'"? A. Well, the piggy bank, it is just an expression to show just how ridiculous the whole thing is. Piggy bank; it is an allusion to pigs. Q. Is there any other allusion in that sentence to pigs? A. Well, if you look through carefully there are all sorts of allusions in there concerning pig in a poke for instance, "poking around". Q. That is in the next paragraph. A. And there is also - I think there is something that the Brothers Grimm wrote
Page 8.71
concerning pigs and various other things that were apparent in my mind at that time, which was the basic theme running through the whole thing, squeaking; a reference to squeaking there. Q. I think pigs squeal rather than squeak, but perhaps in Cyprus they squeak. Can I ask you this last question: the learned judge posed a question to you before the luncheon adjournment and it was this: "Do you accept" - or words to that effect and I trust I get it right - "Do you accept that your demand was taken seriously?" A. Well --- Q. And you told us that you were sorry that it would seem it had been taken seriously; correct? A. That is correct. I am extremely distressed that this whole thing has happened. Q. Now let me ask you a further question following upon that one: was it your intention it should be taken seriously? A. It was never my intention to cause any distress for anyone. It was merely --- MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: That is not actually an answer to the question. It was never your intention to cause distress; was it your intention that it should be taken seriously? A. Indeed no. I did not imagine that anyone would. MR. BECKMAN: Mr. Koupparis, by now you are learning questions answered shortly are the best unless it is essential to carry on further. Now, when you say you accept that they did cause distress, are you speaking of what you knew at the time or what you have seen by the evidence in court? A. What I have seen subsequently. Q. Did you expect that any experts would be distressed by the validity of the threat? A. Not at all.
Page 8.72
Q. Why not? A. To me I had gone out of my way to make sure that the whole thing was nonsensical. Q. Whether it be misguided or not, funny or not, your references to pigs, were they intended to be serious or to be taken humorously, being released? A. They appeared humorous to me and I assumed everyone else would take them in the same way. MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: Would you look at page 153 again. I am not quite clear about this. That is a draft or copy of a letter, is it not, which was found in London, together with another set of the demand documents? A. Yes. Q. And other things also. You say it was sent from, Cyprus? A. Your Lordship, a copy of this, the original copy. Q. However, you said, "I was interested to see it was posted in Cyprus". A. Yes, your Lordship. Q. You came to London on 26th March, did you not? A. Yes. Q. Who do you say posted it in Cyprus and when? A. A person that I asked - her name and address appear in the depositions your Lordship, and she was totally unaware of what it was, but I made arrangements for her to have the envelope which was sealed and stamped and addressed, and on a telephone call from me she would post it. Q. Did you give the instruction? A. Yes, your Lordship, I did. Q. When, you have not told us that? A. By telephone. Q. When, was the important part? A. The day before 1st April or the - it was either the day before or the day before that, the penultimate day of the month.
Page 8.73
Q. You say that was addressed to the President of Cyprus? A. Your Lordship. Q. As far as we know, it was never received at all. A. I have no way of knowing whether the person that I asked actually carried out the --- Q. You cannot say that it was posted, can you? A. I did receive a letter whilst I was in prison which indicated - it was very badly written, it was indecipherable what was being said because the person is not English, and it did make some mention of a letter, "I did what you said", or something like that, but I don't know whether that is a reference to the actual letter, so I cannot be absolutely certain. MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: You have cleared up what I did not understand. (The witness withdrew)

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