President Anastasiades is even more exposed institutionally and politically

Statement by AKEL Parliamentary Representative Giorgos Loucaides

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 21 May 20202, Nicosia

The confirmation of the President of the Republic’s second private trip to the Seychelles in August 2015, after a parliamentary question and a relevant reply on the part of the Presidency, leaves Mr. Anastasiades even more deeply exposed, both politically as well as institutionally. More specifically, the reply confirms the expenses for the special allowance of the two presidential guard police accompanying the presidential guard, but not any expenses for any airline tickets.

We recall that when we tabled a specific question on this issue last February at a meeting of the Parliamentary Audit Committee, Mr. Anastasiades’ representatives had denied the realisation of the President’s second family trip to the Seychelles.

We also recall the fact that Mr. Anastasiades never really took the responsibility, nor did he acknowledge as a mistake the acceptance of a personal donation for the second trip to the Seychelles with the luxury jet of his Saudi friend now with a Cypriot passport.

We expect that Mr. Anastasiades, after the relevant official refutation of the reply given by his representatives in Parliament, will not repeat himself, as the previous time when he was stubbornly refusing for months to reply to the questions we had posed about the trip to the Seychelles in August 2018. We hope that this time he will find the political courage to tell the whole truth without delay and to take responsibility for his actions.

In any case, as AKEL we shall ask for the discussion on the issue to continue in the relevant parliamentary committee.