The proposal to purchase an armoured presidential limousine was based on technocratic criteria, after assessing the needs and condition of existing official vehicles, government sources said late on Saturday.

The department of electromechanical services said it had evaluated the vehicles in terms of transporting both the president and high-ranking official visitors.

“Procedures for the procurement of the vehicle will only begin after obtaining the consent of House finance committee” and a budget for it is approved, the department said.

Such a vehicle would expect to be received within 12 months from the start of the relevant procedures, it added.

The prospect of Cyprus purchasing such a vehicle caused a storm on Saturday after President Nikos Christodoulides denied all knowledge of such a plan, accusing someone in parliament of deliberately leaking the information in an attempt to damage him politically.

“I was informed this morning by the press about this intention to make a purchase. I knew nothing about it,” Christodoulides told journalists.

Such a car would cost around €595,000.

Christodoulides described criticism surrounding the issue as a “populist approach”, saying attempts to use it to damage the president would ultimately have the opposite effect.