Documents submitted to parliament have undermined government claims of transparency regarding donors to Cyprus’s Independent Social Support Fund, a charity overseen by the president’s wife Philippa Karsera Christodoulides.
Five documents provided to the House Institutions Committee by the Treasures of the Republic reveal limited disclosure about the fund’s benefactors. A two-page memorandum from an April 3 meeting detailed the fund’s operations and included a decade-long analysis of contributions and student support payments from 2014-2023.
A subsequent confidential letter dated April 15, 2024, responding to lawmakers’ requests for detailed donor information, only provided aggregate figures. The data categorised donations above and below 50,000 euros, distinguishing between corporate and individual donors, and broadly classified individual donors by nationality as Cypriot, Russian, or Arab.
The controversy intensified following revelations that certain donors received preferential treatment during former President Anastasiades’ administration. Notable cases included a Saudi Arabian associate of the former president, whose family members received citizenship, and a Russian multimillionaire whose personal security guards were granted gun permits outside normal legal provisions.
DISY MP Nicos Georgiou proposed legislation requiring disclosure of donations exceeding 5,000 euros to the Fund. While parliament approved the measure, President Christodoulides referred it to the Supreme Constitutional Court on October 14, citing potential conflicts with EU fundamental rights and data protection regulations.
The presidential referral argues that while donor disclosure may serve public interest, it does not meet the threshold of public necessity. It suggests that alternative, less intrusive methods could achieve the same oversight objectives without compromising donors’ privacy rights under Articles 7 and 8 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the General Data Protection Regulation.
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