The matter is not closed until the President provides convincing answers
Statement by AKEL C.C. Spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou on allegations tying President to shady dealings
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 4th September 2019, Nicosia
For the second time, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) has exposed the Presidential Palace and President Anastasiades.
The first time the Project exposed the government ruling forces when they portrayed as “unsubstantiated” the Project’s allegations as to the involvement of the law firm of Nikos Chr. Anastasiades in money laundering cases of billions of Euros. The Project presented evidence about the press reports it had made. The government rulers, of course, with the help of friendly media outlets, were quick to let the revelations go. The second “exposure” of the President and government ruling forces came from the co-founder of the Project, who pointed out to the government that it was “laughable” to attribute the revelations to AKEL or to internal “thieves” of the revelations, given that it was the Project itself that made the suspicious transactions public and what substantiates them.
The reaction of the government spokesman, who was quick to declare the issue as over, shows how annoying this is for the government ruling forces. However, regardless of their position, one thing is certain: the issue will not only not go away, but will deepen so long as the President doesn’t provide convincing and clear answers, with the result that our country continues to be vilified internationally as a machine for money laundering
The President is called upon to give a convincing reply to the Project. The communication management (of the matter) for internal consumption purposes may protect the President himself – as far as this is possible – but it leaves Cyprus exposed internationally.