AKEL blames opposition for Lillikas allegations

AKEL yesterday blamed the opposition for the controversy surrounding Trade and Industry Minister George Lillikas’ alleged involvement in the awarding of a Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) advertising contract to a company associated with his wife’s company.

A storm erupted this week when it emerged that an international advertising company associated with Marketway, Lillikas’ company, was awarded a £2.8 million contract by the CTO for an advertising campaign abroad.

Given that the CTO comes under the umbrella of the Commerce Ministry, questions were raised about the handling of the contract selection.

The company in question is Athens-based Optimedia, part of the Publicis international group, which is associated with Marketway.

In a written statement issued yesterday, AKEL defended its minister, and put the row down to an attempt by DISY to hurt ministers from AKEL.

“Without evidence they are trying to hurt their honesty and reliability,” AKEL said.
DISY’s attempt to submit the issue for discussion by the House Watchdog Committee was indicative of its desire to pre-empt the result of the discussion, the party said.

“AKEL stresses that the desire by the DISY leadership and part of the media to harm ministers coming from AKEL is obvious.”

On Wednesday, the House Watchdog Committee agreed to list the issue on its agenda, but stopped short of naming Lillikas directly, instead referring to scrutiny of CTO tender procedures.

Lillikas repeated that Marketway has nothing to do with Optimedia directly, but is associated to its international parent company Publicis. He highlighted that since he had taken over the ministry, Marketway had not made an offer for any advertising campaign for an organisation under the ministry.

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.