Setting the record straight
Sir,
In the Tales from the Coffeeshop published in the Sunday Mail on July 14, you claim that: “(Andreas) Karageorgis and his wife took a holiday in gay Paris and did not have to pay for accommodation as they stayed at the ambassadorial residence.”
I will ignore the tone and potential aims of the publication, but I will have you know that during my six-day stay in France I stayed at hotels: specifically at Le Belmont, 30 Rue Bassano, on July 4 and 5, at the Hostellerie du Coq Hardi at Verdun on July 6, and at the Hotel D’Angleterre Etoile, 21 Rue Copernic, on July 7,8, and 9.
We stayed at the ambassador’s residence for around four hours on the dawn of July 3 to 4, after the room we had reserved was given away because we had arrived late from Liverpool due to chaos created by strikes of airport staff.
Fortunately for me, I have the receipts from the hotels of payments I made in cash or with my personal credit card. I am attaching copies of the payments I made with a request that you set the record straight.
Needless to say, you could have had a confirmation or a denial of your information if you had simply contacted me before you went ahead with an allegation that exposes and degrades anyone, regardless of their position. unless of course that was the ultimate aim of your informant or of the writer.
Andreas Karageorgis, president of the Public Service Commission
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.
