President Nikos Christodoulides on Tuesday sought to distance himself from a public spat over a proposed commercial development on the Larnaca beachfront, as the former auditor-general – who stirred up the matter – kept up the pressure on the government.

Asked about the controversy over the Aqua Residences project in Larnaca, the president said only that he would “not become involved in a public debate over a decision taken in 2022”.

The issue concerns the planned construction of two 20-storey towers on the beach of the former refineries in Larnaca municipality, which the environment department green-lit recently.

As head of the Alma political party, former auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides has called the decision scandalous.

According to Michaelides, the estimated €40 million project was approved on condition that around 40 per cent of the eroded plot be reclaimed from the sea, requiring developers to “monitor the coastline for at least six months, including during the winter season”.

Alma argued the towers would be built almost directly on the shoreline, with plans to fill in 40 metres of land that had been lost to erosion, which the group said had never been done in Cyprus before.

Furthermore, Michaelides said one of the directors of Israeli-owned firm Solvin Ltd – the project owner – is a member of the political bureau of the Disy party.

Though he did not name names, the individual in question is Polys Kourousides.

Kourousides is listed along with Alon Natan Rechter as one of two directors of Solvin Ltd, a private limited company with a registered address in Larnaca, according to public records available on the Registrar of Companies website.

Kourousides is also the director of Polys Kourousides & Associates LLC – real estate surveyors based in Nicosia.

Michaelides was insinuating that the government –via the environment department – had succumbed to influence peddling to give a pre-approval to a project in breach of regulations governing developments on the coastline.

Disy hit back at the former auditor-general, accusing him of seeking to harvest votes by manufacturing a fake scandal.

“Mr Michaelides is the ultimate judge of everything,” a party spokesman said sarcastically of the former chief auditor.

Far from dropping the matter, on Tuesday the former Audit Office boss turned his attention to Theodoulos Mesimeris, director of the environment department.

He alleged that Mesimeris had known that reclaiming the eroded area on the Larnaca beachfront would be done by filling in sand, but that Mesimeris pretended not to be aware of the details.

According to Michaelides, if allowed to go ahead, this project would create a precedent for other developers wanting to build on the coastline.

Green-lighting such a project, he said, would constitute a violation of the ‘legal commitment’ undertaken by the Republic of Cyprus not to permit any development at less than 150 metres from the shoreline.

Defending himself, Mesimeris said his department only issues environmental advisory opinions – the final say for a construction permit rests with the relevant authority, in this case the Larnaca district organisation (EOA).

The Larnaca zoning plan specifies what developers need to do if they want to build near the coastline. The zoning plan concerns a three-kilometre stretch of the beach.

Mesimeris said the method of beach reclamation would be spelled out in a coastal engineering study for Larnaca being done by the department of public works.

Asked why his own department gave a positive opinion on the Aqua Residences project before the coastal engineering study was finished, the official said that the public works department had looked at this case separately.

For his part, the head of the Larnaca EOA told media that the file on the proposed commercial project – containing the positive opinion of the environment department – had yet to arrive on his desk.

Also weighing in, Larnaca mayor Andreas Vyras said the coastal engineering study has been “underway” for about a year now.

The purpose of the project, said Vyras, is to retain the “public character” of the area by building a pedestrian walkway linking Larnaca to Oroklini, as well as through other constructions – such as a public beach, green areas and other communal spaces.

The mayor said the application for the development in question has been pending for two years, and insisted his municipality was “not pressured by anyone”

The municipality, he added, would never consent to “projects on the wave” – meaning on the water mark.