POLITICIANS yesterday were highly skeptical of the timing of Papacostas’ resignation, calling on the government to “shine plentiful light” on the affair.
DISY deputy Ionas Nicolaou took the lead, pointing out the timing of the Chief’s departure was too suspect to be a coincidence.
“The importance of a resignation is directly related to the timing,” Nicolaou said.
He went on to wonder why the President had adopted double standards—accepting the resignation of former Justice Minister Kypros Chrysostomides but not of Papacostas.
“Who can be convinced that Mr. Papacostas’ resignation is not linked to the decisions of the Attorney-general’s office regarding responsibilities in the Kitas affair, which will be announced tomorrow [today]?” Nicolaou mused.
“And if it’s announced tomorrow that the Chief is in the clear, who is to believe that some sort of behind-the-scenes tradeoffs did not take place?”
Far from clearing up the air, said the DISY deputy, the manner of Papacostas’ resignation fed popular perceptions of a cover-up and dealt the final blow to “people’s already shattered trust in the police force.”
Nicolaou said recent events have shown that, six months after Kitas scandal, the government’s much-vaunted reshuffle of the police force has been an unmitigated failure.
“The least the President can do is to say a mea culpa and convince us that from now on his sole criterion will be the good of the police and not cronyism in the force…”
Similar comments were made by the other political parties.
European Party Rikkos Erotokritou said the official explanation of Papacostas’ resignation was a hard sell.
He suggested that the decision to sack the Chief had been taken long before. Erotokritou also put the onus on the President.
He recalled how Christofias had initially denied any knowledge that Kitas was being held in a private hospital – at considerable cost to the taxpayer. But the President had been economical with the truth, since it subsequently emerged he had received a letter describing the conditions of Kitas’ detainment, and had forwarded the same letter to the Attorney-general’s office.
What limited praise there was for the embattled Police Chief came from his brother, Defence Minister Costas Papacostas.
“If there’s one thing I know, it’s that the police force is losing a most capable chief. He served under my command, and I’m not saying this because he is my brother or out of sentimentalism.”
The Defense Minister said he was “saddened” by the news. His brother had informed him early in the morning, he added.
“I told him ‘Do whatever you think is right. It’s your decision.”
