Former President Nicos Anastasiades launched an attack against what he described as “people’s courts” set up after the publication of the Anti-Corruption Authority’s report, arguing that the presumption of innocence was violated and that the public debate around the case was marked by “toxicity,” “smearing of names” and “character assassination.”
“Nevertheless, despite the Authority’s announcement, in violation of the presumption of innocence, some set up people’s courts and convicted individuals as guilty,” he said, stressing that the final judge of whether someone is guilty “is none other than the court.”
Referring to the book Mafia State, Anastasiades argued that the investigating officers and the Anti-Corruption Authority “rejected false or unfounded claims, or in any case did not accept the defamatory allegations against me contained in the book Mafia State.”
Rybolovlev case
Regarding the Rybolovlev case, he rejected claims of personal involvement. As he said, “at no point in either the book or the report of the Anti-Corruption Authority is there any reference to any direct or indirect action by the former president towards any authority or body that would suggest knowledge of or involvement of Anastasiades in the arrest of Rybolovlev’s spouse.”
According to the former president, the relevant allegations are based solely on SMS messages, which “according to the Authority’s findings cannot be attributed evidential value without the existence of other supporting evidence.”
He further argued that the investigating officers incorrectly linked facts and communications. “The most important point I want to stress is how the incorrect linking of events leads to flawed conclusions,” he said, adding that “the Inspection Officers wrongly connected the arrest of Rybolovlev’s spouse with another SMS referring to alleged arrangements for a one-way trip from Brussels to Athens.”
He also argued that the conclusion of potential influence peddling “collapses,” noting that the arrest of the Russian oligarch’s wife took place on February 24, 2014, while the trip mentioned in the book and the report concerned events in March of the same year.
Calls for immediate appointment of independent investigators and prosecutor
Concluding, he called for the immediate appointment of a criminal investigator and prosecutor “of recognised standing and strong personality,” so that the investigation can be concluded within a specific timeframe.
“I sincerely hope I will not face a new accusation that I am exerting undue pressure or committing the offence of abuse of power by requesting that the entire framework of the book be investigated by independent investigators and prosecutors, so that the real truth can come to light as soon as possible,” he said.
