On International Anti-Corruption Day

Statement by AKEL MP Aristos Damianou

9 December 2022, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

The adoption of the Anti-Corruption Convention by the UN General Assembly in 2003 and the establishment of 9 December as a day of remembrance of the need to combat all related acts and offences is due to the sad realisation of the consequences of this flimsy phenomenon at the expense of progressive modernisation and development.

Any abuse of public office, bribery and corruption, acts committed by persons in a position of power with the ultimate aim of obtaining the same benefit or profit of a relative or friend, are not only legally punishable acts. They are acts of theft from society of those resources that can contribute to the alleviation of poverty and unemployment; that can contribute to public health, public education and culture. They are acts that expand the unfair and illegal enrichment of the privileged few at the expense of the many and undermine the future of future generations. Acts which, unfortunately, for ten years now, have been increasingly plaguing the political and social reality of our country as well.

Cyprus’ slide in the various Corruption Indexes in recent years reflects what we as AKEL have been denouncing for years, such as:

• The blatant institutional entanglement and conflict of interest of both the President of the Republic and members of his Cabinet in the exceptional approval and granting of citizenships by law firms or other offices connected with the government and the President. Also, the fact that they proceeded while half of them were irregular or even illegal.
• The sad fact that from some wealth tycoons, both the President and other government officials received gifts in kind.
• The inexplicable and unprecedented testimony of the President of the State Nicos Anastasiades, as a witness for the defence of his friend of the Deputy Attorney General Rikos Erotokritou who was eventually convicted of corruption offences.
• The imposition of the haircut on bank deposits, but not of the millions of in-laws.

Today Cyprus can turn the page with a truly independent, non-partisan personality who unites citizens around clear positions and policies that can combat the rotten phenomenon of entanglement/interwoven interests and corruption that has grown over the last decade. This is something that neither Averof Neophytou nor Nikos Christodoulides, who were protagonists in the ten-year Anastasiades government, can achieve.

On the contrary, Andreas Mavroyiannis’ insistence on investigating all those allegations that place President Anastasiades and government officials at the centre of scandals is indicative of his determination to work to restore our state’s lost credibility. So that citizens can trust institutions again. To believe again that the state ensures the rule of law, that government officials and institutions truly serve their social contract with citizens, free of moral deficiencies and guided not by self-interest, but by the well-being of the people.