Olive Pits

Why did Assistant Attorney General Savvas Angelides submit his resignation to the President of the Republic?

Let’s explain things in detail. The President met with Angelides last Wednesday at the Presidential Palace to discuss the Assistant AG’s resignation, submitted to Christodoulides last Sunday, November 15. The President also met with Angelides on the Monday after submitting his resignation-at eight in the morning-and tried to persuade him otherwise. He initially couldn't be moved, but following the interjection of colleagues and friends, the President met with Savvides again on Wednesday. During this exchange and according to our Presidential Palace sources, Savvides justified his resignation as stemming from ‘falsehoods’, ‘threats’ and ‘malignant accounts’ against him, referring to a ‘smear campaign’. He further claimed that many cases cannot be pushed through mainly due to police incompetence, but also corruption in part of the force. His most important argument of course, were threats made against him over the phone, some of which by lifers that Central Prisons management cannot keep in check, as he said. As the Legal Service told us, Angelides said he felt ‘insulted’ by certain members of the Anti-Corruption Authority, who keep certain charges made against him in their drawers so ‘these knowns or unknowns can feel they are able to blackmail me’. These charges refer to a number of nolle prosequi (suspension of prosecution) that he made in the past. Our sources say that during the Wednesday tete a tete, Nicos Christodoulides pressed Angelides so much, to the point that he was forced to a commitment that he would consider taking his resignation back, despite initially saying that he wouldn’t be changing his mind. According to a credible Presidential Palace source, in contrast to those that critisise Angelides, the President considers him as irreplaceable and that’s why he literally battled to keep him. Attorney General Yiorgos Savvides is also doing the same.

ALMA’s Odysseas Michaelides responded with verses from the Kavafy poem ‘Satrapy’,

after his former assistant Hasapopoulos revealed that Odysseas was at least the co-administrator of a support webpage that he had set up. The page was used as a tool to smear those who critisised Odysseas and as such, it published blatant lies. The workings of this page, which also saw posts by Michaelides’ sister and son, was one of the reasons he was dismissed by the Supreme Court, despite the fact that he had sworn of having no role or say in this particular webpage. The Legal Service is monitoring developments and is currently expecting more evidence, out of the constant leakage, which concern instructions given by Odysseas to Hasapopoulos on whom to attack, not ruling out the possibility that the former Auditor General will be accused of perjury.

Now back to ‘Satrapy’. Odysseas targets the petty and small minded behaviour of Hasapopoulos, the traitor who marched to Sousa and joined the Artaxerxes court in exchange for honours and positions. In any case, one does wonder who the Hasapopoulos Artaxerxes might be. Is it perhaps Christoforos Tornaritis, who helped him take down the Whatsapp messages, or Feidias, who took him in as a member of ‘Direct Democracy’? Beyond Artaxerxes of course, a number of others are glistening with joy, benefiting from this spat. They are none other than Nicholas Papadopoulos and probably Nicos Christodoulos, as ALMA’s numbers are plummeting and this means DIKO is rising.

No one really knows what’s happening with the government reshuffle.

As Victoras says, it is the President’s privilege and we will respect that, adding our own comment however. The ministers’ self-respect is no one’s privilege and is not subject to whatever might be happening or boiling in the President’s head. But this reshuffling saga also comes with its positives, in the President’s mind at least. It sort of extends the discussion over incompetent ministers, in contrast to the extremely capable executive who’s fighting the good fight on his own and is running left, right and centre to block all these holes that his ‘lesser’ ministers are opening. He even believed this argument to be true at some point and started shouting at them, lecturing some. As we were responsibly formed, the only ones he appreciates are Keravnos, Ioannou and Palmas. And just so you can catch my drift, following a number of commissioner appointments, a number of ministers sought briefing from the Presidential secretaries. They didn’t know either, obviously. The President is totally ignoring them and considers them expendable.

If he wasn’t a sportscaster, Petros Hadjichristodoulou would still be part of this job in any other capacity.

Either on the international desk or as a war correspondent. Well known for his good kind of crazy, his wide ranging knowledge and the endless stories of his life, he’s know codified all this into a book. OFF THE RECORD circulated a few days ago by AIGAION publications, celebrating his 53 years as a sportscaster. And on the subject of reporting and Petros, this takes up back to a story written in 2023 by Myrto Zoumidou. Phileleftheros was forced to pay a hefty fine following a lawsuit by Makarios Drousiotis in 2009 after Petrakis wrote that ‘a guy named Makarios Drousiotis…is either a Turk using a Greek pseudoname or a Greek that dreams of becoming a Genitsaros (turncoat) but is afraif of being circumsised’. Phieleftheros paid 61 thousand euro back then. This script could well have been written by someone else, perhaps Petros’ mentor, but even Petrakis, who’s a great guy, loses his mind when it comes to the Cyprus issue, so he was obviously not thinking straight.

The Jews in Larnaca have backpedaled.

They won’t be planting trees in honour of Trump, but the Gaza peace agreement. But even if it was to honour the American President, why would the people of Larnaca care? In this country, certain people hear his name and their eyes well up with emotion. But let’s see if he gets involved in the Cyprus issue, whether some of his admirers will built a statue in his honour at Larnaca airport.

The extradition of two 28 year olds from Thessaloniki completes a police investigation on the Stavros Demosthenous assassination.

Authorities now believe they have all the major conspiracy players in custody, so cudos to police chief Themistos Arnaoutis. In this case, the force acted quickly and professionally and deserve the praise.

On Friday afternoon, members of the Animal Police, accompanied by a veterinary services representative, secured approval from residents and subsequently search two apartments at a Nicosia suburb, following allegations by the Animal Party that cats are disappearing and some people are eating them. Police did not clarify whether the apartments were in the Ayios Dometios area or those accused were Cypriots or foreign nationals.

Following the retirement of the Electricity Authority’s Executive Director of Production and Supply Alexis Michael, the EAC opened up the position. Four EAC engineers applied and interviews were held recently under a three member committee made up of President Yiorgos Petrou, VP Christos Limnatitis and Maria Hadjivasili. One of the applicants is an EAC official that supported the Nicos Christodoulides candidacy. That’s perhaps why MS of Presidential Palace employment is pushing EAC executive board members to appoint him, mostly pressuring the President. She is really on his case.

President of the Hellenic Republic Constandinos Tasoulas visited Cyprus on the 20st and 21st of November to celebrate Greek Armed Forces Day and to honour the Greek force in Cyprus-ELDYK, at their camp in Malounta. During his visit, Tasoulas received a rare gift by ‘The Associatio of Unaccompanied Children to Greece-1974-1979’, presented by the Greek Ambassador to Cyprus Constadinos Collias. The book ‘Thank You-1974 children Witness Accounts’, written by Niovi Kerkidou, narrates the emotive personal stories and memories of children hosted by the Greek government for several months following the Turkish invasion. On Thursday November 20th, the President Andreas Theodosiou, Secretary Niovi Kerkidou and members of the Association, visited the Greek ambassador and gifted a copy of ‘Thank You’, in light of the Tasoulas arrival, as an expression of gratitude to Greece.

The University of Cyprus will probably not be housing its Architecture School at the Phaneromeni Gymnasium as the building allocation is not being led to fruition, with the University strongly displeased. Certain circles are referring to an interest by the Capodistrian University of Athens who have rented half of the walled city of Nicosia buildings from the Archbishopric, which also in turn, donated a number of buildings to the University. Some say that Archbishop Georgios has a hand in all this and ‘posed an issue of cancelling a government deal with the Archbishopric and returning the building to the church to utilise it for other purposes’.

Αλμα #