For the Anastasiades government, honesty, political ethics and transparency are obviously unknown words
Statement by AKEL C.C. Spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou on the “golden” passports scheme
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 14th December 2020, Nicosia
The Anastasiades-DISY government is provocatively pretending that it does not understand the major issue of moral order and conflict of interest that concern it. It is confirmed by the new revelations that a numerous members of the Anastasiades-DISY government – past and present – are connected with law firms that processed citizenship applications, while the government is wondering where the problem lies.
The problem lies in the network of interwoven interests and service of mutual interests that the government has set up for years. In other words, the Anastasiades government, as soon as it came to power in 2013, dismantled the criteria and controls for the citizenship/passport program. Law firms that are connected with the President of the Republic himself and government Ministers were consequently submitting applications for “golden” passports. Subsequently, the same people, as the Council of Ministers, approved the applications.
In any country operating on the basis of the rule of law, someone from the government would have taken responsibility and apologized to the people. But for the President of the Republic and his government, honesty, political ethics and transparency are obviously unknown words.
