Former president Nicos Anastasiades claimed on Tuesday the findings of the Anti-Corruption Authority shattered the allegations made against him in the Makarios Drousiotis book Mafia State.

He promised to give answers to the authority’s report which found that Anastasiades may have abused his powers as president in several different instances. These were included in the report in detail.

In a prepared statement, Anastasiades said that “the allegations of enrichment, corruption, and a host of other slanderous accusations made by Makarios Drousiotis collapsed as non-existent”.

“Most of the accusations made by the investigating officers and the anti-corruption authority are not only not included in the allegations [made by Drousiotis] … but were also never brought before me during the investigative process”.

He said that as such, he was never given “the opportunity to provide the appropriate, documented answers”.

With the report now having been published, he said he “will provide answers with evidence, both regarding Drousiotis’ allegations and the [other] unsubstantiated accusations, in the coming days”.

“I declare that I categorically deny the allegations and request an immediate investigation by the relevant authorities,” he said, before requesting that both attorney-general George Savvides and his deputy Savvas Angelides, both of whom he appointed, be recused from any further investigations.

This, he said, must happen “so that the groundlessness of the allegations against me may be demonstrated with documentation”.