Video alleges campaign finance breaches by Christodoulides

A video went viral on Thursday alleging that President Nikos Christodoulides and his associates engaged in illicit methods to bypass limits on election campaign spending in 2023.

The video, first ‘leaked’ on X by an account called ‘EmilyTanalyst’, appears to be a documentary-style production, with some parts from publicly available footage while other segments appear to have been recorded undercover.

The narrator, speaking in a British accent, begins the video: “He funded his campaign with illegal cash – disguised as ‘donations’ – to bypass the €1 million limit.”

The next frame shows former energy minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis speaking. It’s not clear whether he knows he is being filmed.

Lakkotrypis, a supporter of Christodoulides, is heard saying: “In the elections they have a cap of about €1 million. So sometimes they have to depend on cash, to be able to go above that budget.”

In a different setting, Lakkotrypis says: “He has a cap of €1 million for his campaign. You know, it has to be cash, so they go there with cash. And they spend the money in cash. This is what I’m telling you, this is in cash.”

Next, the narrator says that  “When the president needs cash, he calls his chief of staff – his brother-in-law:”

The video then shows Charalambos Charalambous, director of the office of the president – Christodoulides’ brother-in-law.

Charalambous is married to Kristia Karsera, sister of the first lady Philippa Karsera.

Elsewhere in the eight-minute-long video, the CEO of Cyfield Giorgos Chrysochos is heard boasting about his close relationship with Christodoulides.

He says: “If I call him how, he will answer. He’s like my girlfriend.”

The video first appeared via an account on the social media platform “X”, by the name of “EmilyTanalyst”, using the name “Emily Thompson”.

The account was first created in 2022, and as of 6pm on Thursday, had fewer than 400 followers.

However, the list of followers included Constantinos Petrides, who served alongside Christodoulides as a minister under former president Nicos Anastasiades, political commentary account Defteri Anaynosi, Sefa Karahasan, Turkish public broadcaster TRT’s representative in Cyprus, and political satire account “barb_parody”.

Additionally, the number of followers was rising rapidly throughout Thursday afternoon as more internet users took notice of the video.

The account had never mentioned Cyprus before this week, writing on Tuesday of a “masterful irony” that “a divided island [is] guiding a united Europe toward autonomy and openness” and then again referring to the Cyprus problem on Wednesday.

Thursday’s video is the first the account has ever posted.

Cyprus Mail was unable to verify the authenticity of the video.

More later.