Interior Minister clarifies legal standing of crowdfunding campaigns

Interior Minister Konstantinos Ioannou has clarified that online crowdfunding efforts, specifically those conducted by President Nikos Christodoulides during his 2023 election campaign and by journalist Makarios Drousiotis for his legal defense in the so-called Sandy case, do not fall under the provisions of the 2014 Law on Public Collections.

In response to a parliamentary inquiry submitted by AKEL MP Konstantinos Konstantinou on August 14, 2026, the Minister explained that the 2014 legislation regulates appeals for specific charitable, benevolent, religious, or environmental purposes. Because the financial appeals in question were personal or campaign-related rather than for these defined public interest categories, they do not require authorization under the Public Collections Law.

Minister Ioannou emphasized that the legal assessment is based on the specific purpose of the appeal rather than the medium used for fundraising. Consequently, there are no grounds for referring these cases to the police for investigation regarding potential violations of the 2014 Act.