Clerides calls for swift end to inquiry

WORRIED about more damaging corruption allegations laid at the government’s door, President Clerides reportedly wants the Auditor-general to speed up his probe against Interior Minister Dinos Michaelides.

Clerides said this week the media’s fascination with sleaze was making Cyprus look like a “banana republic”. Now, he wants Auditor-general Spyros Christou to finish collecting evidence as soon as possible.

Christou launched his probe last week, following the 14 counts of bribery brought against Michaelides by Disy deputy Christos Pourgourides.

Clerides is understood to have met with Michaelides since his return from New York for a first-hand briefing from the minister.

Disy’s political office meanwhile held a meeting yesterday at which it called on Pourgourides to inform the party of the evidence he had against Michaelides.

And Pourgourides was taken to task over other allegations accusing a Disy member of unlawful enrichment.

Pourgourides has so far refused to name the Disy member and a Diko official, who he says are guilty of corrupt practices.

During yesterday’s four-hour meeting, Disy served a gagging order on party members, banning them from public comment on the Michaelides affair until the Auditor-general’s investigation is complete.

Christou has said his probe will take until the end of the month.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.