Anastassiades: time for this story to end

DISY Chief Nikos Anastassiades has called for an end to the vague charges “which have nothing to do with reality”, in the latest row over the UN-US funding spat.

His comments follow claims by President Tassos Papadopoulos earlier this week that cash to promote the Annan plan came from additional foreign sources on top of the United Nations Office for Project Support (UNOPS).

The government has accused the United Nations of interfering in Cyprus’s internal affairs, saying American money was pumped through the UNOPS Bi-Communal Development Programme (BDP) to promote the Annan plan before the referendum
But Anastassiades said he would only agree with Papadopoulos if the intervention came “in such a way that could be considered subversive or adversely influencing the interests of (Cyprus).”

The DISY chief also called for the Cabinet to appoint an investigative committee to “examine or ask for detailed accounts and details with regard to the funds spent so that this story can be put to bed.”

Speaking before his departure for Rome earlier in the week, Papadopoulos said: “This was an unacceptable intervention in the internal affairs of the Cyprus Republic by foreign organisations, giving money not for the support of philanthropic causes but to bolster certain political positions in Cyprus.”

Papadopoulos said such interference in the political affairs of a sovereign country was in violation of the UN Charter.

The President has also waved away calls for an investigative committee, saying there was nothing to be investigated that was not already known.

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