Christodoulides: ‘I will give no one the right to accuse me of corruption’

In a counterattack after being accused of breaking the law over presidential campaign finances, President Nikos Christodoulides stressed on Friday he would allow no one to accuse him of corruption and challenged anyone with evidence to come forward with it.

“Anyone in possession of evidence regarding any direct or indirect bribery should immediately submit it to the state authorities,” Christodoulides said.

He added that “foreign companies coming to Cyprus to invest must also contribute social benefits, within the framework of corporate social responsibility, for the state.”

“I want to make a public call to anyone in possession of evidence regarding any direct or indirect bribery during the preelection campaign or during my tenure as president of the Republic, to submit it immediately to the state authorities,” he said.

“I have said it many time and I will repeat it today. I will give no one – no one at all – the right to accuse me of corruption,” the president stressed.

He added that he would be continuing the effort to attract investments, “which I began on day one”.

“I will continue because it is to the benefit of our country and I am glad that this effort is producing results. And we saw the results of my trip to the USA today [Friday] with the announcement of the American investments in our country. And, yes, in the framework of these investments, these companies coming, yes, must make social contributions as well in the framework of corporate social responsibility, for the state – I reiterate – for the state,” he said.

Christodoulides explained that “they do this in the sectors of health, the welfare state, defence and many other sectors.”

On Friday morning, responses from government officials came thick and fast after a video alleging campaign finance lawbreaking on the part of President Nikos Christodoulides and his associates was widely shared on social media.

Government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis appeared on Sigma TV early on Friday morning, saying that despite what was alleged in the video regarding Christodoulides’ relationship with construction company Cyfield’s chief executive officer Giorgos Chrysochos, the pair are not in regular contact.

On the matter of the video itself, Letymbiotis said that the government’s initial position was to question “who created the video, in what capacity and for what reason”, as well as “why it was chosen to be posted by a social network account of dubious origin”.

The social media account was registered in 2022 and according to information available on the platform is based in the United Kingdom.

The “target” of the video, he said, is “clearly the president, along with the government and the country”.

He then said the video constitutes “an organised effort based on falsified footage, false and misleading allegations”, and had been published “with the aim of damaging” both Christodoulides “and the strategy of the last three years to attract quality investments and upgrade the international image of Cyprus”.

“In no case has the president of the republic received money through third parties,” he said, adding that “the president himself has publicly stated that he will never tolerate any questioning of his personal commitment to legality and the fight against corruption”.

Looking ahead, he said that both the police and the legal service will “officially receive the information” regarding the video and, “after evaluating it, proceed with their own decisions and actions”.

Meanwhile, presidential press office director Victor Papadopoulos appeared on Politis Radio and rejected accusations that the ‘social support body’, a fund for students from disadvantaged backgrounds managed by First Lady Philippa Karsera Christodoulides, is being run in a non-transparent manner.

The video claims that people are making donations to it in return for favours.

To this end, he said that “transparency is the be all and end all for the current government”, and that when it leaves government, it will have “clean hands”.

The video first appeared on social media platform X on Thursday, having been shared by an account using the handle “EmilyTanalyst” and the name “Emily Thompson”.

At the time the video was shared, the account had fewer than 350 followers, but this number has grown to more than 950 overnight, while the video has amassed more than 250,000 views.

It features close associates of Christodoulides, his chief of staff Charalambos Charalambous and former minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis, appearing to explain how they used and intended to continue to use cash donations to circumvent election campaign finance laws.

Both men also appeared to say that donations to Christodoulides by oligarchs under threat of appearing on international sanctions list would lead to him defending and assisting them to avoid sanctions from the European Union.

Chrysochos, meanwhile, appeared to say that he pays €250,000 per year for his access to the government.