By Nicolas Petros Kaparti
The offices of the Independent Anti-Corruption Authority will be visited next Monday (10:30), independent candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, Andreas Mavroyiannis, following the letter he sent to the SAI calling on it to proceed immediately to investigate all allegations contained in the book "Mafia State" by journalist, Makarios Droussiotis.
In a statement to the Cyprus Times, the head of Andreas Mavroyiannis' campaign, Leontios Filotheou, says that "we sent the letter and requested a meeting to inform the Authority about the content of the book", while he also refers to a delayed reaction.
"The book was published a few days ago and since no institution was sensitized we took this action and asked for an investigation of the allegations in the book," he explains. At the same time, Mr. Philotheou suggests that "the Authority could also be activated by an anonymous complaint, which is why we have proceeded with a subsequent call to the Authority to investigate the claims made in the book."
At the same time, Mr. Philotheou suggests that "the Authority could also be activated by an anonymous complaint, which is why we have proceeded with a subsequent call to the Authority to investigate the claims made in the book.
Asked to comment on whether Mr Mavroyiannis would point out specific aspects of the book, Philotheou replied that "the book is there and the journalist (Makarios Drushiotis) himself made a statement that if called upon he would provide evidence. We said that in the book there are a lot of allegations concerning issues of nepotism, corruption and bribery."
"Some of them," he continues, "are even based on evidence concerning a third country. So these create the need for someone to go ahead and investigate them."
"We are not prejudging anything, but we are saying that the contents of the book should be investigated, so that there are no shadows," he concludes.
As mentioned in previous Cyprus Times[/URL], according to Andreas Mavroyiannis' staff, the letter in question concerns what journalist Mr Makarios Drusiotis claims in his book "Mafia State", regarding the relationship attributed by the author, through his research, to the President of the Republic himself, as well as to people from his immediate entourage with the Russian oligarch Rybolovlev and the actions that the author claims were taken by government and state officials to satisfy his private interests.
PM: "I fully reserve my legal rights"
Responding to this action by Mr. Mavroyiannis, Government Spokesman, Marios Pelekanos, said yesterday in a written statement that the President of the Republic wishes to point out the following..
-He is pleased because the complaint to the Authority will provide an opportunity to investigate the slanderous allegations and lies of a third party who, unfortunately, for petty political expediency, led Mr.
-The President of the Republic fully reserves his legal rights to take legal action against those who have made, are making or adopting such slanderous allegations."
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