Newsroom
Police will not investigate journalist and author Makarios Drousiotis over his online fundraising campaign after the Legal Service concluded that it did not break Cyprus’ fundraising laws.
A police headquarters spokesperson told the Cyprus News Agency that, following the legal opinion, there was no longer any matter for officers to investigate.
The decision closes a side issue that emerged after Drousiotis turned to the public for help paying his legal bills, and received an immediate response.
How the controversy began
Drousiotis launched the online campaign in early August to cover his legal defence, court expenses and independent forensic examinations linked to cases he is facing.
The appeal raised more than €50,000 in just 36 hours. Drousiotis said the money would be used only for its stated purpose and that all contributions and payments would be checked by an approved auditing firm, with the final report made public.
But on Aug. 11, Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou said the campaign had come to the attention of the authorities and appeared, at first glance, to fall under legislation governing public fundraising.
Under that law, anyone conducting a formal public collection may be required to apply for permission from the relevant fundraising authority.
The matter was referred to police, who then asked the Legal Service to determine whether the rules applied to this particular online campaign.
Ioannou said at the time that no one would be prosecuted if the examination found that the campaign fell outside the legislation.
That is now what has happened.
The Legal Service found no violation, and police say the matter ends there.
The ruling is also likely to interest anyone who has donated, or considered raising money, through an online crowdfunding platform. The case exposed uncertainty over how Cyprus’ traditional fundraising rules apply when donations are collected digitally for an individual’s legal expenses.
However, the decision deals only with the legality of the fundraising campaign. It does not affect the separate legal proceedings and investigations for which Drousiotis said he needed financial support.
Those include criminal proceedings connected to publications in the so-called “Sandy” case and a separate investigation involving alleged personal-data offences linked to his book Mafia State. Drousiotis rejects the allegations against him.
