NICOSIA (Reuters) - Telephone-tapping devices have been found in the office of a government minister in Cyprus responsible for the police force, officials said yesterday.

The find, discovered in a sweep almost four months ago, was kept quiet by authorities pending inquiries and was only publicly confirmed yesterday.

“I cannot lie about this. I am compelled to confirm it,” said Justice Minister Doros Theodorou, who discovered the device concealed in an electricity socket behind his desk in June. There were reports that a private security firm found the bug after the actions of a lone policeman in the minister’s office aroused suspicion. But officials gave little detail on the unprecedented incident.

Theodorou played down the find, implicitly confirming reports a predecessor may have been the victim of eavesdropping. “I think this is a ghost from the past,” he said. Asked whether he would order further investigations, President Tassos Papadopoulos responded with a simple “no.”