Parliament scraps student aid fund, shifts role to scholarships

Parliament on Thursday voted through a bill abolishing the social support body – offering financial assistance to disadvantaged students – and transferring its operations and assets to the State Scholarships Foundation.

The bill that passed was co-sponsored by Akel MP Stefanos Stefanou, Disy’s Kyriacos Hadjiyianni and Volt MP Alexandra Attalidou.

In remarks on the House floor, the sponsors said this is the optimal way of continuing to provide support to students in a transparent manner while at the same time avoiding “administrative duplication”.

The bill repeals the law establishing the social support body or fund.

Earlier in the same session of the plenum, MPs voted down two government bills concerning the controversial fund.

The first government bill provided for scrapping the fund and transferring its assets and responsibilities to the state treasury.

The second would have set up a special donations account at the Central Bank, under the care of the state treasurer.

Independent MP Irini Charalambidou lambasted the government bills, noting that they would have placed the state treasurer – a public official – in charge of private donations.

Also, there was no provision to check the donations and any ties between the donors and the state.

For her part, Attalidou said questions hang over the social support body in the wake of the ‘Videogate’ affair that broke out in early January.

The state, she commented, needs to understand that “it is not dealing with supplicants or subjects”.

The fund was initially set up in 2014 to offer financial assistance to disadvantaged students. It was chaired ex-officio by whoever happened to be the spouse of the president.

Since 2023, the body had been chaired by Philippa Karsera, the current president’s wife. She resigned shortly after the ‘Videogate’ scandal.

In the eight-minute video, the fund gets an oblique mention from the CEO of Cyfield, the largest construction contractor on the island.

After seemingly boasting about his personal access to President Nikos Christodoulides, Cyfield CEO Giorgos Chrysochos is heard saying: “So we gave her [the first lady] €10,000 every year. It’s not much, but we support other initiatives as well. I have to pay, I’d say, €250,000 every year on donations.”

There existed no cap on donations to the social support body, nor were there any restrictions as to who could contribute.

In 2023 – an election year – donations to the body spiked. In that year, total revenue clocked in at €2.269 million. This represented about a tenfold increase on the previous year.

The fund’s operation had drawn attention in the past, as it was exclusively driven by private donations.

In a report published last November, the Audit Office said the fund gave the impression of being a charity-for-influence scheme.

“There exists a relationship – or there appears to be a relationship – of influence and/or the expectation of benefit,” the auditor-general said.