Belated fabrications and attempts by DISY cadres to justify the illegal actions
AKEL MP Aristos Damianou statements on ‘Astra’ radio:
29 August 2022, ‘Dialogos’ portal
Speaking to ‘Astra’ radio this morning, AKEL MP Aristos Damianou spoke of belated fabrications and attempts by DISY leading officials to justify illegal actions, authoritarianism, the feast surrounding the government’s ‘golden passports’ scheme/industry and the cronyism/clientelism that prevailed.
Some things should be called by their name, he stressed, such as who the providers of such services were, who were the ones selling, who were building, whose law firm’s passports were being approved by the Ministerial Council. A.Damianou added that is a very old discussion about institutional entanglement/interwoven interests, which constitutes institutional corruption of the President of the Republic and members of the Ministerial Council who were approving citizenships/passports that were coming from the very close family circle of President Anastasiades himself.
The AKEL MP also spoke of a Goebbelian misrepresentation regarding the way Parliament acted on the VAT issue and in this, he said, people who were supposed to present the facts objectively were also involved. The long and fierce discussions and fights that AKEL militants waged in Parliament with the Finance Ministry and the tax department were waging have been well recorded, he stressed. AKEL, he recalled, pointed out the violation of the legislation and the intention of the legislature and tried to pass an amendment and subsequently of special VAT regulations. Indeed he questioned whether the primary residence included the people who never came to Cyprus, some of whom are behind bars in prison, and whether the purchase of towers/skyscrapers in Limassol constitute a first primary residence.
AKEL has been issuing warnings for years, but the government did not react even when it had been receiving warning messages from the European Commission.
A.Damianou also stressed that independent institutions should take on their responsibility. The Ministry of Justice’s absence is glaring, while the legal service is also being weaponized to the detriment of the rule of law, the AKEL MP pointed out.
