Speech by the General Secretary of AKEL Stefanos Stefanou at the mass mobilisation on corruption outside the Legal Service

 

22 June 2026, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

We have gathered here today (outside the Legal Service) to demand catharsis and punishment.

• A cleansing of the institutional entanglement/collusion and corruption plaguing our country.
• Punishment for those responsible for this state of affairs, which is bringing our country into disrepute internationally.

Now is the opportunity and the historic moment. Now that the Anti-Corruption Authority’s Findings reveal the widespread system of corruption, as well as the system set up to cover it up.

Corruption and entanglement/collusion have always existed. This is not a recent phenomenon. However, during the term of the Anastasiades–DISY government, entanglement/collusion and corruption took off and assumed enormous proportions. They became a key component of the policy pursued by DISY and its government.

The “golden passport” scheme, created by the DISY government under President Nicos Anastasiades—who served two five-year terms—was a key characteristic of its governance. But it was not the only one. There were other major scandals, which continue to threaten society and the economy today.

Scandals such as the deliberate bankruptcy of the Cyprus Cooperative Bank to pave the way for the arbitrary rule of the banking oligopoly, which DISY serves with religious devotion. Scandals, such as the project in Vasilikos and the electricity interconnection, which are being investigated by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.

And around these scandals, a pervasive system has been built within institutions, Ministries, and agencies to serve and cover up the actions of the Anastasiades government and DISY.

So we will again speak about all of these today and tomorrow and every day until there is catharsis and punishment.

It is not just now that we are speaking out. It is not just now that we are urgently raising the issue of institutional entanglement/collusion and corruption.

For years now, we have been highlighting and discussing this issue on AKEL’s initiative, as well as through the initiatives of others both inside and outside Parliament.

But in this debate, we have always found DISY standing against us—both inside and outside Parliament.

When we spoke about corruption, they replied that it has always existed.

When we denounced the “golden passport” scandal, DISY accused us of supposedly defaming the country, even though they are the ones who have dragged our country through the mud internationally.

When we spoke of the need to end the “golden passport” policy, DISY accused us of rejecting investment and allegedly trying to kill it. You see, in their view, get-rich-quick policies and corruption are termed investment.

When we pointed out that corruption in Cyprus is reflected in valid and reliable international indicators, DISY insisted that these indicators merely reflect public perception and do not accurately depict the actual situation. Even if the public know it all too well, they seek to keep it a secret.

Now, in light of the findings of the report against N. Anastasiades, DISY—instead of addressing the substance of the matter—is evading the issue and attempting to create a diversion. It invokes the “presumption of innocence.” That presumption is to be respected. But common sense must also be respected, and the intelligence of the country’s citizens must also be respected. Respect for due process in criminal cases does not mean that we cannot judge DISY’s governance based on what we see right before our very eyes and what is glaringly obvious. For the self-evident instances of institutional entanglement, corruption, and widespread conflicts of interest.

After all, what else but a blatant conflict of interest is the fact that N. Anastasiades’s Office was one of the key players in the issuance of “golden passports,” and that he himself presided over the Ministerial Cabinet that took the decisions regarding them?

The current leadership of DISY, under the presidency of DISY leader. Annita Dimitriou, is also carefully avoiding taking a stance.

On the one hand, it fears public opinion and the people’s outrage, so it refrains from defending N. Anastasiades and his administration—even though it enlisted him during the pre-election campaign to rally DISY votes.

On the other hand, the DISY leadership lacks both the courage and the stature to break away from N. Anastasiades and his administration, which has allowed corruption to run rampant. The DISY leadership may claim to be relentless in combatting corruption, but in reality, all it does is hide, hoping that people will forget and the issue will be swept under the carpet.

Similarly, President Nikos Christodoulides cannot pretend that all of this concerns someone else and not his political mentor and the government in which he himself served—as a key official—for 10 years. If nothing else, he should reflect—as President of the Republic—that he governs a country where citizens cannot truly trust the institutions. And let him consider what he must do.

We, however, will not let this matter be swept under the carpet. We will keep bringing it to the forefront and will demand a full, swift, credible, and objective criminal investigation into the findings of the Anti-Corruption Authority’s probe.

That is precisely why we have all gathered here today: to demand the resignation of the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General. According to the Constitution, everything begins and ends at the Office of the Attorney General. Neither of them has the necessary impartiality to be involved in this matter. They were appointed by N. Anastasiades and served in N. Anastasiades’s government. That is exactly why they must resign and make way for a thorough and objective investigation.

This is not the first time we have called for their resignation. There have been other instances in which the two prosecutors made contradictory and incomprehensible decisions, shrouded in a veil of opacity and secrecy, just as they did in the case of the black surveillance van. They acquitted the owners even though the company had been convicted. And they did so by invoking the public interest, without anyone knowing what that actually entails or whether invoking it was justified in this particular case.

We will continue the fight against corruption, and this fight concerns everyone. This mockery and insult to our intelligence cannot continue, with Mr. Anastasiades demanding even more, while DISY demands that everyone remain silent so that the cover-up ring can do its work. It is the unanimous demand of the Cypriot people that our country be governed by the rule of law and not by a “Mafia state.”

Today’s mobilization was called for by AKEL and VOLT, but the struggle for accountability and the rule of law in our country is not the struggle of just one or two parties. Nor do we believe that everyone associated with DISY party is involved in or supports the actions and policies of Mr. Anastasiades. On the contrary. We believe that a large section of these people, as well as the overwhelming majority of Cyprus’s citizens, agree that THINGS CAN’T GO ON LIKE THIS.

That it is not possible for the vast majority of society to be suffocated by the struggle to make ends meet while, right beside them, a ruling elite with tentacles of corruption enriches itself illegally and unjustly.

That in the country we want to leave to future generations, it will be the honest and hardworking people of this land who will prosper and be rewarded, not the corrupt and the unscrupulous.

That we must once again place the values of honesty, integrity, good governance, and transparency at the heart of this country. All citizens of this land must be able to agree on these values, regardless of any other political differences or disagreements we may have.

That is precisely why this struggle is, first and foremost, a struggle that concerns society as a whole.

And that is why, together with society, we will continue this struggle.