Statement by the General Secretary of AKEL S.Stefanou

 

12 May 2026, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia 

ALMA party leader Mr. Odysseas Michaelides continues to lie. Today he claimed that I allegedly pressured the then Minister of Energy to award the Vasiliko project to specific subcontractors.

I call on Mr. Papanastasiou to testify as to whether I ever called him or pressured him to award the project to a specific subcontractor, given that the decision to continue the project with those specific subcontractors was made by the Government.

Exactly what was said in Parliament is recorded in the minutes. If Mr. Michaelides continues to lie, I will request that the confidential minutes be made public so we can all see what was said. It is then that it will be fully revealed that, for a few votes and to satisfy his own belief that he is the only incorruptible one, Mr. Odysseas Michailidis is ready to smear people and destroy lives.

For the record, I would like to recall that three days before this specific meeting of the Parliamentary Energy Committee, I characterised Vasilikos “a major scandal,” and that I had sent a letter requesting that an investigation be conducted into the Vasilikos scandal by the Anti-Corruption Authority.

We may not all agree on everything, but that does not mean we should resort to cannibalism.  If some people choose populism and toxicity, they will find us standing against them.

When it comes to issues of moral integrity, our response is: zero tolerance!