By George Psyllides
FORMER president Demetris Christofias said on Friday it was humiliating for Cyprus and a blow to democracy for judges to rule on the political decisions of an elected head of state, a day after he was blamed as being responsible for the island’s economic debacle.
A committee of former judges tasked with investigating the island’s economic debacle said Christofias was the main culprit for bringing the country to the brink of economic collapse.
But the former president denied responsibility and reiterated that banks were to blame for the debacle.
“The government should stop the downward spiral of criminalising the country’s political life and focus on the important matters Cyprus is facing before it is too late,” Christofias said.
The panel said he had ignored technocrats who had recommended more balanced budgets in favour of increasing expenses.
“He insisted on imposing his views, ignoring advice and promptings from experts in matters of the economy as to the consequences of his actions,” the committee said.
Christofias rejected the findings of the committee he described as being illegal, saying it was unprecedented, and humiliating for Cyprus, for judges to judge political decisions of the elected president.
He described the panel as an illegal committee which was “so devoted to democratic institutions that it didn’t allow me to speak and ended up with a text replete with untruths and slander”.
The former president had refused to testify before the committee because they had not allowed him to read a lengthy statement, in line with procedure. He was asked by the panel to wait until the end of the session to read the text, after which he refused to answer their questions and stormed out.
Christofias, along with his party, AKEL, have both claimed the committee was illegal but have not challenged it before a court.
He also rubbished claims that he dominated his cabinet. It was more democratic than any other cabinet, he said, and decisions were either unanimous or by majority.
He urged the attorney-general to not only study the findings of the committee, which was full of lies and slander, but to also read his statement.
It is not the first time Christofias and AKEL have disputed the findings of an inquiry.
In 2011, Christofias appointed lawyer Polys Polyviou to investigate the Mari naval base explosion that killed 13 people and incapacitated the island’s biggest power station.
Polyviou found Christofias as being mainly responsible for the tragedy while foreign and defence ministers Marcos Kyprianou and Costas Papacostas were also blamed.
Christofias rejected the findings and accused Polyviou of overstepping his mandate.
And AKEL this week has claimed that the arrests of two of its members for corruption was politically motivated, and designed to hurt the party.
