Former President of the Republic of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades responded to the report by the Independent Authority Against Corruption on the book Mafia State, arguing that, on certain points, he was not given the opportunity to present his position before conclusions were drawn.
At a press conference, Anastasiades said that the Authority had reached findings which, in his view, were based on an incorrect connection of events. He also said that he does not reject scrutiny and called for the appointment of an independent criminal investigator and prosecutor, so that the case can be fully examined and all evidence assessed.
Responding to individual chapters of the report, he referred to the case of Elena Rybolovleva’s arrest, arguing that the relevant claims are based on SMS messages to which, in his view, no evidentiary value can be assigned without further supporting testimony.
Regarding the Focus case, he rejected the allegation that he personally appropriated an amount of 550,000, which was allegedly intended for the transport of voters and for DISY’s needs in the 2009 European elections.
Regarding the Abramov case, he argued that the changes to naturalization rules were made by the then-Christofias government, after the rejection of an application by Abramov’s wife.
Anastasiades also criticized the public debate that followed the publication of the report, referring to “people’s courts,” toxicity, and the smearing of names.
Source: Καθημερινή Κύπρου
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