The issue of the President’s trip to the Seychelles must be cleared up in the Parliamentary Audit Committee
Statement by the General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL A.Kyprianou on the President’s trip to the Seychelles
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 27th May 2020, Nicosia
As AKEL, we have requested that the Parliamentary Audit Committee continues the discussion on the issue of the President of the Republic’s second trip to the Seychelles on a private jet.
We believe that the debate must continue for the following reasons:
– As it became clear from the information that has unfortunately been revealed during the first discussion, government officials didn’t tell the truth to Parliament. They didn’t say that a second visit by the President had taken place to the Seychelles.
– We believe that the issue must not be forgotten because it concerns cases that have exposed Cyprus internationally, the cases of the ‘golden passports’ scheme, since in this specific case the President’s family trip to the Seychelles and their hospitality took place immediately after Cypriot passports were granted to a Saudi Arabian sheikh and 21 members of his family too.
– This issue must not be forgotten because it has to do with transparency, good governance and political ethics that must characterise a given Government. Unfortunately, the government’s willingness to answer this question so far proves that it does not prioritize these characteristics and is insisting on behaving in a way that takes us even further backwards in time than the 1960’s.
We therefore consider that for all these reasons and because the issue is not personal, but an issue that concerns the whole of Cypriot society, the matter should be discussed and clarified in the Parliamentary Audit Committee.
Every case of political corruption, interwoven interests or non-transparency in the country’s political life offends or should offend all of us. That is precisely why we believe it is our duty to investigate the matter fully, if we all really want to say that we stand against such phenomena. At least that is what we, as AKEL want and seek with all our actions.
