Published on
A top aide to Cyprus’ president has resigned after a video circulated online appearing to show him and others offering political influence to would-be investors in exchange for cash.
President Nikos Christodoulides said he accepted the resignation of Charalambos Charalambous — who is the director of the presidential office and his brother-in-law — describing it as “an act of self-confidence” and “not of pressure or guilt”.
Charalambous had earlier posted on Facebook that he would never allow his government job to be “converted into a tool of manipulation” to harm Cyprus or the president.
He called his appearance in the video a product of “deliberate distortions” and of “selective editing” aimed at manufacturing false and misleading conclusions.
The video, posted on social media last week, features Charalambous alongside a former energy minister and the chief executive of a major construction firm.
The trio are heard boasting about their close relationship to the president and securing foreign investments, as if to suggest influence peddling.
The footage also claims that Christodoulides exceeded a €1 million campaign funding cap by taking off-the-books cash donations for his 2023 presidential run.
The most damning allegation is that the Cypriot government would work to block EU sanctions against Russian oligarchs in exchange for corporate cash.
Cypriot authorities had called the video a malicious disinformation attack bearing “all the hallmarks” of previous Russian campaigns against other countries.
An initial Cyprus Security Services analysis said the eight-and-a-half-minute video exhibits “the characteristics of organised Russian disinformation campaigns”.
The video surfaced a week after Cyprus — a staunch supporter of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — assumed the EU’s rotating presidency, rousing suspicions among Cypriot officials about its intentions.
Christodoulides on Monday said that the 27-nation bloc had warned the Cypriot government that it could be the target of such “hybrid” attacks during its EU presidency.
He said that EU members and other third countries are assisting Cypriot authorities in their investigation into the video.
“In such moments of crisis, any leader, when his hands are clean, must be calm,” he told reporters. “I am here. I am publicly taking a position. I have nothing to fear.”
Opposition parties have been scathing in their criticism of Christodoulides and his government, saying the video has revived long-standing allegations of rife state corruption.
Additional sources • AP