House Ethics Committee to probe presidential role

By George Psyllides

The chairman of the House Ethics Committee said he will raise the matter of President Nicos Anastasiades’ link with his law office after it initially represented an airline interested in acquiring national carrier Cyprus Airways.

Phidias Sarikas’ statement followed Anastasiades’ call on Friday for the committee to investigate whether he was either directly or indirectly involved, through his law office, which had represented one of the suitors, Ryanair, for a short period.

Anastasiades said he would resign if any link was found.

The president said he left the firm after his election and agreed with his former partners that they would not represent anyone whose interests were linked with government decisions.

Anastasiades’ daughters are partners in the firm.

He said after he found out that the firm represented Ryanair in the early stages of the procedure to sell Cyprus Airways, he asked them to terminate the agreement, which they did.

Parties criticised the president over the affair though the leaked minutes of a cabinet meeting that discussed Cyprus Airways suggest that he was against Ryanair taking over.

According to the October 8 transcript, the president said of the main suitors, Ryanair and Aegean Airlines: “When you see the conditions they set, you will think we have to pay them” to take over Cyprus Airways.

The minutes indicate that Anastasiades preferred an investor from a Gulf state.

The minutes of a meeting between Anastasiades and the CY board on November 13 showed that the body was not really in touch with reality.

The meeting took place after the board wrote to Anastasiades claiming they had been left in the dark over the negotiations and charged that other potential investors had been rejected over Ryanair and Aegean.

It appeared that members could not substantiate their arguments even when they were challenged by Anastasiades to point out the investors who were prepared to pour millions into CY.

“There is no one left gentlemen,” Anastasiades told them. He asked them to present any investor before him and “we will approve it tomorrow in the cabinet to save Cyprus Airways and award you plaques and medals for your contribution to your country.”

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.