Controversy has erupted over the possible purchase of a new armored presidential limousine, with President Christodoulides claiming to be unaware of the matter following the leak of a confidential letter.
From the studio of the Alpha Kalimera show, DISY and AKEL MPs and members of the Finance Committee, Charalambos Petridis and Andreas Pasiourtides, are raising questions and awaiting answers before the House Finance Committee.
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“The President of the Republic knew that the Cabinet’s approved proposal to purchase the armored limousine—and more—would come before the House,” Mr. Petridis stated, while condemning the fact that the letter was leaked. He also called for the decision to purchase a new limousine to be properly documented.
“It’s not a problem for the Presidency to need an armored car if circumstances require it. And I repeat, I have no opinion at this moment because we do not have the facts before us, and that is what we will do—we will ask questions to see what process was followed and what the experts have said. We also have numerous partnerships with foreign countries, and as you know, we host visits by foreign leaders and high-ranking officials to Cyprus, and this purchase may be necessary for precisesecurity purposes.”
For his part, Mr. Pasiourtides launched a scathing attack against Mr. Christodoulides, saying that Christodoulides himself was the source of the leak from Parliament, while the leak could have come from either of the two ministries involved.
“The Speaker likes to play the victim whenever he finds himself in a tight spot. I’m not saying who leaked it, because I don’t know, but aside from the House of Representatives, at least two ministries were aware of this budget line item and this letter: the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Transportation, as well as certain agencies.”
He maintains that the purchase of an armored vehicle itself is not classified, but rather the technical specifications and the armor specifications are.
“Whether the Presidency requires or needs a new vehicle is precisely the essence of today’s discussion in the Finance Committee. That is precisely why the funds need to be released—so that the Ministry can come and convince the Committee that, gentlemen, I need 590,000 to purchase this vehicle because, for reasons A, B, C, the 2019 model doesn’t meet our needs, or technology has advanced so much that the armor might no longer be sufficient, etc.”
As Mr. Pasiourtidis argues and points out, it is impossible that the President was unaware of the Cabinet’s decision.
“In my view, the first and most problematic issue is the ease with which the President can publicly lie to the people. That is, when a President—who knows, because I’m not going to get into the argument that he might not have known about the Cabinet’s decision on July 16— regarding the purchase of an armored vehicle for the Presidency, costing more than double the price of the previous one. I cannot accept that the President of the Republic was unaware of this.”
He also states that he would expect the President to honestly declare that the Presidency needs this vehicle and not to resort to “public relations spin.”
“After all, we all know he decided on it a month and a half ago, yet he’s acting as if he doesn’t know about it. This is an insult to the intelligence—not ours, but that of the citizens themselves. Because if you ask the average Cypriot right now whether they believed the President when he said he didn’t know, they’ll tell you no.”
When asked about his experience on the Cabinet, as Minister of Defense during the Anastasiades administration, and whether it is possible that the President was unaware of a Cabinet decision, he states that the President was aware or should have been aware. He adds that if necessary, they will lend their support, and for this reason they are awaiting answers before the Finance Committee.
Mr. Pasiourtides also notes that the President has given the issue a pre-election tone.
