United Democrats turn on Michaelides

By Charlie Charalambous

DISY DEPUTY Christos Pourgourides yesterday found an influential ally in his hitherto one-man campaign to topple Interior Minister Dinos Michaelides on sleaze allegations.

Following last Wednesday’s cabinet decision clearing Michaelides of the latest in a string of allegations, the United Democrats, a junior coalition partner, yesterday distanced itself from the government’s stance.

United Democrats’ vice president Michalis Papapetrou openly criticised the cabinet’s full backing for Michaelides and said the decision had been taken while its minister, Costas Themistocleous, was abroad.

“Our minister was away when the decision was taken and we will put our position before the House,” Papapetrou said yesterday.

“We consider the cabinet decision on Michaelides invalid, and we will call for political blame to be apportioned to the minister.”

With the UD holding one ministerial post, and tipped to gain more in an expected reshuffle, their opinion will hold some sway in government – not to mention that EU negotiator and former president George Vassiliou is the party’s high-profile leader.

Pourgourides kept on the pressure yesterday, holding a news conference to publicise a letter sent by Michaelides to President Clerides, which apparently proves that the cabinet turned a blind eye to the truth.

The cabinet decision came in reaction to an Ombudsman’s report on allegations that Michaelides used his influence to change a town planning zone where he later built his Limassol villa.

In its findings, the cabinet said Michaelides bought the land at least three years after the changes.

But the Michaelides letter shows that one plot was bought months rather than years after the Kalogiron area was turned into a residential zone in 1987, Pourgourides said.

Close inspection of the Ombudsman’s report backs this version of events.

The House plenum will debate the Michaelides sleaze allegations as a matter of some urgency on Thursday. Whether the minister himself will get to speak before his peers is up to the party leaders.

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