A big public debate was sparked by the decision of Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou to ask the police to investigate the crowdfunding appeal announced on Monday by journalist Makarios Drousiotis. In fact, Ioannou declared on Tuesday that it violated the law on fundraising as “there is a clear procedure by which a person that wants to carry out fundraising has to submit an application to the fundraising committee, to be evaluated and for a decision of approval or rejection to be issued, based on specific requirements.”

This was why he had given instructions for a letter to be sent to the police “with the suggestion to proceed in the investigation of the possible committing of a criminal offence, based on the law of fundraising.”

Ioannou changed his story after the hostile reaction on social media which accused him of persecuting Drousiotis and seeking the journalist’s annihilation. The ministry “does not hunt anyone and does not seek anyone’s annihilation,” he subsequently said on X. He had asked the police to investigate “as a matter of duty,” he said.

“If from the investigation it emerges that it (crowdfunding) is not covered by the provisions of the specific legislation, nobody will be prosecuted or charged,” he added. So why had he made a public issue out of matter, saying he had reported it to the police and claiming that the crowdfunding violated the law on fundraising, without asking the opinion of the Legal Service?

As he subsequently admitted, crowdfunding might not be covered by the provisions of the fundraising law. Yet this did not stop him writing to the police recommending a criminal investigation.

The minister appears to have changed his tune when it was pointed out on social media that President Christodoulides had also carried out crowdfunding as a way of financing his election campaign and he was not investigated. Football clubs also did this, the latest example being Apoel, which had raised more than €400,000 through crowdfunding, very recently. Did Ioannou consider reporting Apoel to the police or are football clubs above the law?

A lawyer pointed out that crowdfunding for legal expenses does not fall under the law cited by Ioannou, which deals with fundraising for charitable or public interest causes and is designed to protect people from fraudsters. As the law does not cover ‘legal expenses’ how could the licensing authority that approves charitable fundraising approve fundraising that is not covered by this specific law? Perhaps, the existing law also applies to crowdfunding and the criminal investigation by the police could well find that a criminal offence was committed.

Regardless of this, the optics are very bad for the government and the Legal Service. The overall impression is that the state authorities want to prevent Drousiotis raising money to pay for his legal defence. Why else would his crowdfunding have been reported to the police when the authorities have never taken any action against public fundraising by a presidential candidate and football clubs in the past?