The Cyprus Sports Writers Union (EAK) has withdrawn a journalism award just days before its presentation, following pressure from Cyprus’s football association (CFA) over an investigation into alleged corruption and conflicts of interest in TV rights deals.
The award was meant to recognise Phileleftheros journalist Fanis Makrides’s investigation into CFA President Giorgos Koumas’s business dealings, which uncovered:
- Contracts worth millions with state telecoms company ATHK through four companies in the Seychelles and British Virgin Islands
- Evidence of Koumas negotiating TV rights deals while serving as a football official
- The sale of TV rights for Cyprus national team and APOEL matches while making decisions affecting these teams as a football administrator
- At least three instances of conflict of interest, according to investigators appointed by the Sports Ethics and Protection Committee
The investigation, which began with a small paragraph in a 2014 Auditor General’s report, had previously gained international recognition through the International Sports Press Association (AIPS).
The suspension came after an October 22 letter from the CFA expressing “surprise and displeasure” about the planned award. The CFA’s letter, signed by director Anthoulis Mylonas, questioned the selection of “a 13-month-old article whose content we reject” and alleged defamation.
“A respectable journalists’ organisation, composed of professionals tasked with scrutinising all forms of power, protecting public interest and serving society, cannot bend before any federation”, Makrides said in response. “They cannot make decisions against journalism and in favour of financial interests”.
Makrides questioned why the CFA, rather than Koumas himself, intervened in the matter, and why no legal action for defamation had been taken since the initial revelations in 2018 if the reporting was indeed false. He maintains that all his reporting was based on documents and that Koumas was repeatedly given opportunities to respond.
The decision, Makrides notes, has also raised questions about EAK’s relationship with its own 12-member evaluation committee, which had ranked his submission first in its category before the suspension.
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