President Christodoulides arrived at the Independent Authority Against Corruption this morning to testify as part of an investigation into allegations against former president Nikos Anastasiades in the book “Mafia State”.
Christodoulides arrived five minutes before 9:00 am at the authority’s offices, politely greeted journalists and photographers before entering the building. He declined to make any statement when asked by reporters. Haris Poyiatzis, Commissioner for Transparency and head of the Independent Authority Against Corruption, received the president at the entrance.
The key issue about which Christodoulides was questioned concerns the private jet allegedly used by former President Anastasiades for his travels.
In the book, journalist and former Anastasiades aide Makarios Drousiotis claimed that Russian tycoon Dmitri Rybolovlev provided favours to Anastasiades regarding his divorce from Elena Rybolovleva. Drousiotis alleged that Rybolovlev paid for the private jets used by Anastasiades for foreign travel during 2015.
To support this claim, Drousiotis cited testimony from Christodoulides, who was government spokesman at the time. According to Drousiotis, Christodoulides clarified in a conversation that Rybolovlev—not Greek Cypriot businessman Chris Lazari—covered Anastasiades’ jet expenses.
Drousiotis worked as an aide to President Anastasiades between 2013-2014. Since leaving the Presidential Palace, Drousiotis has written three books accusing the country’s political elite of widespread corruption, based on his experiences collaborating with Anastasiades.
Anastasiades is scheduled to testify before the investigative committee on 28 April. In his recently published book “The Slanderer,” the former president addresses the issue: “To make himself believable, Drousiotis uses the same method he employs in numerous chapters of his works, citing dialogues that allegedly took place between himself and my associates, in this case, then-Government Spokesman Nikos Christodoulides. As he falsely claims, during one trip, Christodoulides corrected him that it was not Lazari who paid for the airfares, but Rybolovlev. This is the ‘irrefutable’ testimony for his morbid narrative. Fortunately, Christodoulides is alive and presides over the Republic.”
Anastasiades is expected to submit his book “The Slanderer”, written in response to allegations made in “Mafia State” about his presidency of the Republic of Cyprus.
According to sources, Anastasiades’ testimony is scheduled to take place within a week.
Investigators have already written a substantial portion of their findings report, reportedly comprising thousands of pages, covering issues for which testimonies have been completed.
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