Wealth is what sets former House president Demetris Syllouris apart from those who are indeed corrupt, he pointed out on Tuesday, shortly after being acquitted by the Nicosia criminal court of all charges brought against him in relation to his alleged involvement in the ‘golden passports’ scandal.

Leaving the court, Syllouris said he held no grudges and maintained that the Al Jazeera video had been montaged for political purposes to tarnish his name.

In 2020, Al Jazeera broadcast a video in which high profile officials appeared to be assisting the proxy of a pretend Chinese investor – with a supposed criminal record – secure a Cypriot passport under the citizenship-by-investment scheme. One of them was Syllouris.

“I have maintained absolute silence for over five years. I did not even speak in court. I wanted to be tried in the manner that our judicial system deemed appropriate,” Syllouris said.

“I hold no grudges against anyone, not against prosecutors or the creators of the montaged video or those who exploited the montaged video for political purposes or those who judged me either with what they knew or adding more to tarnish my name,” he added.

Syllouris maintained that he was clean. “I was clean. I remain clean and I will continue in the manner of my longstanding presence in politics, to have as my top interest the state of law, combatting entanglement and corruption with one difference from those whose slogan was corruption and a purpose and way of political survival.”

Entanglement and corruption are not on artificial, montaged and AI images, he said. “Corruption and entanglement result in wealth, which I don’t have and I can compare with any politician served the Republic of Cyprus since 1960 to this day,” he said.

“So, let us find entanglement, let us find corruption through wealth. The tool to combat corruption is wealth,” he added.