The social support body’s management committee on Tuesday implored First Lady Philippa Karsera Christodoulides to reconsider her resignation from her role as the body’s chairwoman.

She had resigned from the body, which was initially set up to offer financial assistance to disadvantaged students, after a video widely shared on social media last week linking it to alleged campaign finance violations on the part of President Nikos Christodoulides and his associates, but the committee said her resignation “will negatively affect the continuation of the body’s work”.

However, she remained resolute in her decision, thanking the committee but telling it that her decision was “irrevocable”.

As such, the committee decided to recommend to Finance Minister Makis Keravnos that he inform cabinet of its future decisions, stating that “any decision taken should have as its first objective the smooth continuation of the process of examining and completing the applications for the current academic year”.

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Secondly, it asked for “assurances that any reserve [of money] will continue to be made available exclusively to students who meet the existing criteria” for financial assistance.

It also asked for Keravnos to “guarantee that none of the beneficiary students will be left helpless and will not be deprived of higher education”.

Additionally, it said it will “submit proposals with the aim of continuing the body’s important social work in a way which takes into account all the opinions and concerns which have been expressed to date”.

It then said that until further decisions regarding the fund’s future are taken by cabinet, it would instruct Accountant-General Andreas Antoniades, who acts as its treasurer, to adhere to regulations suggested by the audit office last month.

Those regulations state that all donors offering the fund more than €20,000 either give consent for their name and the amount donated to be published in the public domain or have their donation refused.

It added that it nonetheless “categorically denies unfounded allegations which aim to damage the work and the credibility of the body”, and said that every donation it has received had been made through transfers to the central bank.

Despite this, the president had on Monday said he was minded to completely abolish the body after the video came to light.

“I want to share with you that my first thought is to completely abolish the body. I hear some ideas to transfer it to the state scholarships foundation,” he told reporters.

The first lady had resigned on Sunday, saying that she and her children had been “subjected to the spread of false news, defamatory comments, and allegations of wrongdoing”, and that her status as the wife of the president “does not justify or excuse such attacks”.

Her resignation came in light of a now infamous video being widely circulated on Thursday and Friday, with it being alleged in that video that donors to the fund are given favours by the government. 

This assertion was rejected by presidential press office director Victor Papadopoulos, who rejected accusations that the fund is being run in a non-transparent manner.

“The social support body was created by a previous government and has been chaired by the first lady of the day on all occasions. There is nothing opaque in its operation,” he said.

The body was first established in 2014 and placed under the wing of then first lady Andri Anastasiades, before being passed on to Philippa Karsera Christodoulides when her husband became president in 2023.