Anastasiades dismisses claim he buried CY expenses probe

President Nicos Anastasiades on Thursday rubbished a front-page newspaper report that he had buried the damning findings of an investigation into allegations the Cyprus Airways chairman had charged personal expenses to the company.

In a short statement, Anastasiades said the report in daily Simerini was “completely unfounded.”

“The investigation into the complaints was carried out at my clear instructions and I think such reports are not part of the constructive criticism the media must exercise,” Anastasiades said.

The results of the probe will be submitted to the cabinet during its next session, he added.

Antoniou had allegedly charged personal expenses on CY, including speeding fines and his car service, which had cost over €1,000. It was also claimed that he had charged the purchase of 480 bottles of wine.

It was also reported that the chairman had personally assigned a project worth more than €86,000 without engaging the carrier’s tender department.

He denied the allegations.

Without naming its sources, Simerini said the probe has finished and its findings were damning.

However, on the instructions of the president himself, it has been shelved for the time being, and no one can say for certainty if it will ever be used.

Antoniou said Simerini’s report was unfortunate. The CY chairman said he gave all the information he had been asked to and wanted the truth to come out as soon as possible.

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.