50% of the proposed members of the Anti-Corruption Authority are related to the government’s “golden passports” scheme

AKEL MP Aristos Damianou

3 May 2022, ‘Dialogos’ portal

AKEL and the Ecologists reacted strongly and raised objections to the list of 15 candidates to be appointed to the Anti-Corruption Authority by President Anastasiades.

AKEL MP Aristos Damianou stressed that, on the face of it, of the 12 persons proposed as members of this list, at least 50% are directly or indirectly related to powerful private interests, a bank, a large corporation, but also groups of companies linked to the government’s “golden passports” programme. Speaking on this morning’s edition of ‘Astra’ radio, he noted that the integrity and honesty of these individuals is not in question, but pointed out that they lack the element of objective impartiality.

The AKEL MP also said that there are persons who represented a political appointment from the ruling DISY party, but noted that AKEL is not talking about party affiliations but instead about possible financial dependencies. Furthermore, he pointed out that the Anastasiades government leads the way in entanglement/interwoven interests, stating that a new and more honest governance is demanded.

A.Damianou underlined, however, that President Anastasiades, thinking of his own posterity, will seek to appoint people to the Anti-Corruption Authority who will be of good repute.