Fyodor Dostoyevsky, tremble! I’ve just finished reading the new bestseller “The Slanderer.” I must apologise to readers. I had dared to question the new author Nicos Anastasiades. His 400-page masterpiece, which I believe is already a favourite for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
He completely demolished Makarios Drousiotis. All three of his books. He discredits him. He critically damages his credibility. Or so he himself believes. I must, however, point out one thing to this rising, globally significant author. He forgot that his problem isn’t Drousiotis. Nor his books. It’s the people! They now know all the sins of his administration. As well as his betrayal of public trust. The scandals that disgraced our country worldwide!
Nicos Anastasiades attempts to undermine Drousiotis’s credibility in every chapter of his books. On the Golden Passports, the Russian affair, the oligarch Rybolovlev, the Saudi businessman, the Dromalaxia scandal and others.
Sometimes citing facts and dates that differ from the references in Drousiotis’s books. Sometimes highlighting deleted references in the reprinting of the books. And sometimes, presenting a barrage of questions, in the style of legal pleading in a courtroom, with the obvious aim of trapping the reader’s thoughts.
At the same time, he offers a pile of characterisations. Such as “mentally disturbed,” with an “obsessive or morbid passion for lying,” “a slave to falsehood in the name of truth” and others. Following the Goebbels method that the more something is repeated, the more believable it becomes.
He also emphasises Drousiotis’s change in attitude towards him, after serving as his adviser at the Presidential Palace and after he refused to reappoint Christos Stylianides as European Commissioner in 2019, resulting in Drousiotis losing his position as an adviser in Brussels. Anastasiades’s reference that he had met Drousiotis in the 1980s and he had—as he mentions—a completely hostile attitude towards DISY and himself is characteristic. However, friendly relations were later created due to his stance on the Cyprus issue referendum.
Anastasiades then mentions that he appointed him as a special adviser due to the mistaken belief that from an “enemy” he had turned into a “fervent friend.” He doesn’t realise that in this way he exposes himself irreparably. Because if these are the judgment and criteria of someone who wants to be considered a leader, then heaven help us.
The same applies to Stylianides, whom he appointed as EU Commissioner and now characterises as a “political drifter.” It reveals his limited judgment. It confirms the toxic method of accommodating his cronies.
But, Nicos Anastasiades, your problem isn’t Makarios Drousiotis. We don’t care what he writes. We care about what we experienced. Your problem is the people! They know how Cyprus was disgraced with the crime of golden passports. They know about the deception. When the EU warned, you spoke of slander. When foreign publications ran rampant and referred to an “offshore president,” humiliating our country, you spoke of myths. When the Law Office (under Costas Clerides) warned that the Government was breaking the law, you completely ignored them.
The people know what the Nicolatos report states: Your government approved 6,546 golden passports, 53% of which were illegal! With the casual “tick-tick and they got them” method, as your minister admitted. The people know about your trips to the Seychelles on the Saudi businessman’s jet, who was later found with dozens of passports for his family. In another country, they would have immediately sent you home.
The people know the most glaring record in the Nicolatos report. The conflict of interest of the President and ministers, who approved naturalisations that involved family or other businesses connected to them. The people know the special reference to you, that under your presidency, 50 investor naturalisations were approved, promoted by the law firm which is 50% owned by your daughters.
In “The Slanderer” you don’t even have the courage to take responsibility. You put ministers, the Police, banks, MOKAS against the wall. You talk about providers, investors, and criminal elements, who with fraud exposed the Republic of Cyprus. Everyone is to blame except you. That’s how small you are. That’s how little.
The people know everything else too, Nicos Anastasiades. The lies about the Co-Οperative Bank, which impoverished people. Appointment of an Assistant Attorney General who ended up in prison for corruption. The war against the former Auditor General, who fought corruption. The provocative appointment of two of your ministers to the Law Office. And a whole host of scandals that we don’t have space to list.
The people know that your chosen current President will pay millions of taxpayers’ money for rebranding. He will pay foreign firms handsomely to try to erase the disgrace brought to Cyprus by your administration.
Unfortunately, when Dostoyevsky wrote “Crime and Punishment,” he couldn’t imagine the period 2013-2023 in little Cyprus. And when Joyce Carol Oates wrote the novel “Crime Without Punishment,” she couldn’t imagine that if she had waited a few decades, she would have had authentic material.
I read your “Slanderer,” Nicos Anastasiades. I didn’t change my opinion. I was simply even more disgusted!
