“Only the Presidency fails to understand—or pretends not to understand—the problem that has arisen in the ‘videogate’ investigation,” AKEL states in a new announcement, following the decision to renew Andreas Paschalides’ term for a third consecutive five-year term as chairman of the Authority for the Investigation of Allegations and Complaints against the Police.

The statement reads as follows:

Only the President’s Office fails to grasp—or pretends not to grasp—the problem this creates for the Videogate investigation.

Everyone understands the major institutional and political issue that arises when the person under investigation for institutional corruption and collusion reappoints the person investigating him to a position of authority. Only the Presidency fails to realize—or pretends not to realize—that it is extremely problematic for the government to renew the term of the AADIPA President at the very same time that he is serving as a criminal investigator in the Videogate case in which the government is under investigation for illicit funds and a system of collusion with big business. The doubts cast on the investigation and its findings even before they are published are created by the rulers themselves.

This disregard for every principle of ethics and this insult to the intelligence of citizens are revealing of the style and ethos of Christodoulides’s administration. The only person who can take pride in Mr. Christodoulides’s practices and behavior is Nicos Anastasiades, who has found a worthy successor and follower.