A Cypriot court on Wednesday ordered Cyprus' ex-minister of Interior Ntinos Michaelides to be extradited to Greece to be tried for his involvement in a notorious kickbacks case in which a Greek ex-defense minister is a suspect.

The court upheld an extradition request by the Attorney General following a European arrest warrant issued by Greek authorities, who are investigating Greek ex-defense minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos on charges of receiving bribes amounting to billions of US dollars from middlemen in the purchase of the Russian TOR M1 surface-to-air missile system.

Michaelides and his son Michael are alleged to have helped in the laundering of more than 10 billion US dollars in kickback paid by the arms middlemen to Tsochatzopoulos.

A court decision for the extradition of Michael Michaelides will be issued next week.

Greek authorities investigating the scandal claim that more than 10 billion dollars were deposited by middlemen in Michael Michaelides's bank account, in which his father was a co-beneficiary.

They also claim that Ntinos Michaelides carried to Greece billions of dollars in traveling luggage between 1997 and 2001 when he was a government minister.

Michaelides submitted a request through his lawyers for a stay of execution of his arrest and extradition until August 26 when the limit for an appeal against the court's decision expires.

His request was turned down but he was then taken to a clinic instead of to a prison cell, after he said he was not feeling well.