Let me make it absolutely clear that I fully support investigative journalism, especially when it brings corruption to light.

I also find it absurd that one would vote for the party the corrupt person came from, as it would feel more like a reward or vote of confidence.

Since Makarios Drousiotis published his first book in what became trilogy in 2020, I have been following the dispute and investigations with great interest. Two more books followed and so did that of former president Nicos Anastasiades in 2025 responding to Drousiotis’ allegations.

Does no one see the elephant in the room?

Instead of giving the evidence to the authorities for a thorough investigation and following up if he thought things were not moving forward as fast as he would like – and as a journalist he had access to the outlets – Drousiotis chose to record everything in his books and has become a household name. Being in the spotlight, he is now running for MP.

What really spoiled things for me, is that he is a candidate with Volt, a party in which I have three people I want to vote for – but won’t be doing so.

Allow me to explain.

Although I agree evidence should be shared and that the corrupt should face the consequences, I am a bit concerned over how this information was obtained.

In 2013, Drousiotis was appointed adviser to the president, who then was none other than Nicos Anastasiades. He spent his days at the presidential palace walking the corridors, chatting, listening, viewing and taking notes on confidential issues.

From 2014 till 2019 he was in Brussels as an adviser to Cypriot commissioner Christos Stylianides. 

A year later he publishes his first book, slamming the Anastasiades government for the 2013 financial crisis and the bank bailout.

Drousiotis says on the back cover of I Symmoria (The Gang) that when the political system realised that Moscow was not coming to the rescue and Cyprus was being cornered into a ‘haircut’, “I took a notebook, I wrote the date and started keeping a daily diary, recording the events I saw and experienced during my short term.”

He says he intended to record the moment the economy would collapse but instead ended up recording – by presenting the way in which the political personnel handled this unprecedented crisis – a testimony on the corruption of power.

Drousiotis then followed up with Crime at Crans Montana in which he speaks of “corruption and political cowardice”, which determined the developments in the Cyprus problem.

“My sources are information and primary unpublished material I secured as a special associate of president Anastasiades during the period 2013-2014 and as a personal aide to commissioner Christos Stylianides at the EU from the end of 2014 till early 2020.”

Kratos Mafia (Mafia State) completes the trilogy and records “cases of corruption of unimaginable proportions”. By this time, Drousiotis was under surveillance, he says. Mafia State, he adds on the back cover, records the violation of his personal life.

Drousiotis had access to information. He was trusted so he flew under the radar of suspicion. He started keeping a diary, no problem with that. He gathers as much as he can and lets it all loose over the island like an apocalyptic swarm of locusts. What ensues is well known and ongoing, including him selling thousands of copies and now running for MP.

My question is, as a confidant of the president himself, in his employment at the presidential palace no less, the hub of national security – which is a lot more than defence – Drousiotis by spilling the proverbial beans may not have committed a crime and indeed have acted within the Constitution, but can we trust him to sit in parliament or even share a table with for coffee?

Gregoris Melissou, Nicosia