The government ruling forces are doing everything possible so that the truth about the golden passport scandal isn’t revealed
Statement by AKEL C.C. Spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 23 December 2020, Nicosia
The people have long understood that the government ruling forces will do everything in their power so that the truth about the golden passport scandal isn’t revealed. Not only are they not permitting the Audit Office to carry out the investigations as it is its duty within the framework of its responsibilities, but they are also organizing the concealment of the Investigative Committee’s conclusion from the people which they themselves have appointed.
- The government ruling forces decide different things today and were saying different things in other cases, when they had no problem whatsoever in investigative committee work, criminal proceedings and parliamentary scrutiny all happening simultaneously. One wonders for example, now that a commission of inquiry has been appointed to look into the CYPRA scandal, are the government ruling forces considering freezing the ongoing administrative and criminal proceedings on this scandal?
- The government ruling forces have decided not to make public the parts of the findings that may affect criminal cases or the public interest. However, the legislation for the Investigation Committees, only for issues of national security, allows no part of the conclusion to be made public. What they invoke is nowhere in the law. As nowhere else, there is no possibility for the government not to submit the finding to the House of Representatives.
- The government ruling forces have a different interpretation of what constitutes public interest than the rest of society. For them public interest evidently means the government mustn’t be exposed. Public interest for people, however, is full transparency surrounding the passport scandal that has discredited our country internationally.
People know why all this is happening. It is Mr. Anastasiades and his government who set up the passport sale industry. They are the ones who with one hand – their law firms – applied for the naturalization of investors and with the other – they themselves as Ministers – approved them. These cases don’t need investigations and probe committees to prove them. The conflict of interest is blatant and self-evident.
