Newsroom
Interior Minister Konstantinos Ioannou has asked the Police to examine an online fundraising campaign launched to financially support journalist and author Makarios Drousiotis.
Ioannou said the campaign may have been conducted without the approval required under Cyprus law, and instructed that the matter be referred to the Police for investigation.
The issue was raised on X after a user pointed out that a permit is required to organise a fundraising campaign under the 2014 Fundraising Law.
Responding to the post, Ioannou said, “with the fundraising legislation, something like this is illegal, since there is a clear procedure under which a person who wants to conduct a fundraising campaign must submit an application to the fundraising committee, be assessed and have a decision made on approval or rejection, depending on the circumstances and subject to specific conditions.”
He referred to requirements covering the submission of information, the amounts collected, how the money will be used and any funds left over.
Ioannou added that instructions had already been issued for the Police, as the competent authority, to be formally informed about the fundraising activity.
“Instructions were given yesterday for a letter to be sent to the Police as the competent authority informing it of the said act, with the recommendation to proceed with an investigation into any possible criminal offence based on the legislation on fundraising,” he said.
The Police investigation will determine whether the campaign breached the legal requirements governing fundraising activities in Cyprus.
