Filenews 9 January 2026 - by Fanis Makridis
A controversial report with visual material, the content of which has already been questioned and categorically denied officially by the government, presents the existence of a corruption mechanism in the Presidential Palace.
The material in question was published yesterday afternoon on an account on the "X" platform and presents excerpts of the positions of the former government official, Giorgos Lakkotrypis, the director of the President's office, Charalambos Charalambous and the director of the Cyfield Group, Giorgos Chrysochos.
With the way the positions are presented (the material is edited), an attempt is made to present the image that Christodoulidis' staff used cash for his election campaign, exceeding the limit of €1 million set by the Law.
In addition, the creators of the relevant video present the image of a mechanism for companies to contribute sums of money to the Presidential Palace in various forms, in order to receive special services and promote their requests.
In the TAE
Already, as revealed by Filenews yesterday, Giorgos Lakkotrypis reported the case to the Police and specifically to the Nicosia Crime Detection Department, while, as we are informed, he spoke of stitching together his positions in such a way as to serve the narrative of the creators of the visual material.
Meeting with KYP
In fact, as we are informed, officials of the Presidency shortly after the dimensions of the issue met at the Presidential Palace. At the time of writing, late last night, information stated that there was an ongoing meeting at the Presidential Palace in which the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulidis, the Attorney General, Giorgos Savvides and the head of the Cyprus Intelligence Service, Tasos Tzionis, participated.
Strike from a country
The information and indications examined until yesterday were that the account through which the material in question was published is related to foreign interests and services of a country, which benefits from a blow to the Republic of Cyprus, especially during this period when it holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
He denounced stitching
In particular, regarding Lakkotrypis' complaint to the Nicosia Police Department yesterday afternoon, he reportedly stated, among other things, that his statements were stitched together in a way to serve a specific narrative and to present himself as saying that cash was being trafficked illegally.
As we are informed, those who illegally recorded what Mr. Lakkotrypis was saying presented to him as persons of Dutch nationality who manage an investment fund.
They had met with the former minister as interested in investing €150 million in the energy sector on behalf of the investment fund. Mr. Lakkotrypis participates in the board of directors of a company with a circle of activities in the energy sector and met the alleged investors in this very capacity.
The approximately eight-minute video was posted on the account of Emily Thompson, who presents herself as an independent researcher, analyst and lecturer, with a key focus on US foreign and domestic policy.
The latter appears to have made geopolitical analyses on the Eurasia Review website, which is reportedly based in the US. For the time being, the profile of the account in question is under investigation.
The denials
Shortly after Filenews revealed the complaint, Giorgos Lakkotrypis himself confirmed the complaint to the TAE in a written statement, while stating that the content of the article is the product of malicious editing.
His written statement is as follows: "On the occasion of a video released today from a fake profile on the X platform, and in which I appear to be discussing with alleged investors ways to finance the election campaign of the President of the Republic, I would like to state the following: It is obvious from the video that the statements attributed to me have been edited to distort the context of the discussions, with the ultimate goal of hurting our country, the President of the Republic himself and me personally. It is no coincidence that the leak of the video took place one day after the opening ceremony of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU. I have already filed a complaint with the Nicosia Police Department, to which I will hand over all the information I have at my disposal."
This was followed by a denial by government spokesman Konstantinos Letympiotis. In a written statement, he stated that "in the last few hours, a video has been circulating, which on the basis of the first assessment of the competent State Service is characterized as malicious and is a product of editing. The video in question attempts to damage the image of the Government and the country through false, misleading claims and arbitrary conclusions." In a supplementary statement, he added: "Based on further investigation and evidence already collected by the competent Service, a case of hybrid activity against the Republic of Cyprus is being examined. The Attorney General and the Chief of Police have been informed."
What the visual material presents
The visual material released on the social media platform "X" presents excerpts from the positions of Lakkotrypis, Charalambous and Giorgos Chrysochos. In some cases, the voices of the interlocutors of the aforementioned, that is, the persons who intercepted the audiovisual material, are altered.
The report initially shows Mr. Lakkotrypis talking about Nikos Christodoulides' campaign ahead of the 2023 presidential elections. His statements are presented in such a way as to imply that in addition to the predetermined by law amount of €1 million that Christodoulidis' electoral staff was entitled to use, cash was also mobilized.
In the continuation of the visual material, Charalambos Charalambous is shown speaking via video conference, which according to the words of the alleged reporter is key to the alleged mechanism and that there are "groups willing to pay money to the Presidential Palace for special treatment, favours, influence and access". Mr. Charalambous is shown telling - among other things - to his interlocutor that "you can donate for Corporate Social Responsibility purposes" and that "an American wanted to contribute 500,000 dollars to the country".
Then, they show Mr. Lakkotrypis talking about good relations between the President and Remedica and that through Democracy the interests of companies are promoted even in the European Union (suspicion of pressure to avoid sanctions). "Remedica, on my advice, donated €75,000 to the Presidential Palace," Mr. Lakkotrypis appears to say and adds that he arranged a telephone contact between the company and the President.
The director of the Cyfield group, Giorgos Chrysochos, among other things, appears to say that "I see him every two weeks" and that "if I call him now he will answer". Elsewhere, he is shown saying: "Our relationship is our greatest asset."
The creators of the video claim that meetings are arranged to make contributions to Presidential programs managed by Filippa Karsera, the President's wife. Mr. Chrysochou's statements are also quoted: "You always have to be under the radar of publicity, right? So we give it €10,000 every year (...) But we support other initiatives. I pay €250,000 a year in contributions."
The reactions were lightning fast
The video caused intense political tremors. And the reactions were lightning fast. Political leaders, parties and MPs individually, took a position, the vast majority of whom, although they do not recognize the relevant material as authentic from the outset, nevertheless ask for clear explanations from the President's side.
Among other things, we had official positions from the president of DISY, Annita Demetriou, the general secretary of AKEL, Stefanos Stefanou, the president of DIKO, Nikolas Papadopoulos, MP Irini Charalambidou, MP Alexandra Attalidou, AKEL MPs, Christos Christofidis and Aristos Damianou, DIKO MP, Chrysis Pantelidis, DISY MP, Nikos Georgiou and EDEK.
Update - Is the leaked 'Emily Thompson' account video an AI product? What the Fact Check Cyprus survey shows
The video on the internet where conversations with various public and economic figures of Cyprus are recorded, including the director of the Office of the President of the Republic Charalambos Charalambous, the former Minister of Energy Giorgos Lakkotrypis and the CEO of the Cyfield group, George Chrysochoos, caused strong reactions and a series of questions.
The video is presented as a "leak" and was published on an account on X under the name "Emily Thompson", who presents herself as an "independent analyst".
The Fact Check Cyprus page proceeded to analyze the video in order to determine whether it is an AI product.
What we know
As stated in the analysis, the reverse search of the video did not yield any results.
At the same time, the video and several excerpts, in which political and economic figures appear, were checked with artificial intelligence detection and deepfake tools, specifically through the Hive Moderation and InVID-WeVerify platforms. These checks did not detect clear or convincing evidence of artificial creation (AI or deepfake), especially in the places where the persons recorded appear.
The "Emily Thompson" profile
As for the origin of the post, and based on the information available on the X platform, the account that published the video, named Emily Thompson, has been active since 2022 and declares its headquarters in the United Kingdom. It was not possible to identify public and verifiable evidence confirming the true identity of the person behind the account.
However, online research identified profiles with the same name on the eurasiareview.com, thethinkingconservative.com, and spectator.org sites, who also poses as an "independent analyst," without being able to confirm with certainty that it is the same person.
At this stage, it has not been possible to determine whether the video has been edited or presented out of context, or whether certain clips have been partially or in a specific direction. The lack of access to the full audiovisual material and the exact recording conditions does not allow for a full assessment of the coherence of the conversations or the context in which they took place.
Based on the evidence available so far, the video shows no obvious technical traces of manipulation through artificial intelligence, however its production context, possible editing and the exact identity of its creators cannot be determined with certainty.
