House president Annita Demetriou on Wednesday said she is “looking after every last taxpayer euro” following an audit office report revealed she had claimed almost €19,000 in expenses for a three-night stay in a luxury hotel in London for herself and her entourage.

“We fully respect the audit office’s findings,” she told CyBC radio, while also distancing herself from the decision-making process regarding the choice of hotel in London, saying that “such decisions are made by the competent administrative services, based on the existing procedure.

“Decisions about accommodation are made in consultation with the host country or the organisation which invites us,” she said, adding that she had no personal input regarding the choice of hotel in London.

In addition, she called for “similar issues” to be “examined regarding all state officials”, and added, “I expect to see the relevant reports”.

Her comments came after parliament released a statement on the matter, saying she “has never, since the beginning of her parliamentary career, been involved in the process of selecting hotels for official trips or in determining who accompanies her on missions.

“These decisions are made by the competent administrative services,” it added.

Of the London trip, it pointed out that she had visited London on the invite of Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker of the House of Commons.

“It was deemed necessary for all members of the delegation to stay in the same hotel as the programme had to be strictly adhered to in terms of travel times, while contacts and meetings had also been arranged on the hotel’s premises,” it said.

Audit office spokeswoman Yiota Michael stressed that the report did not target Demetriou, but the processes followed surrounding the trip.

“We did not identify any irregularity regarding the House president herself, with her own accommodation. What we are mentioning as an observation is the cost of her entourage’s accommodation,” she told the Cyprus News Agency.

She pointed out that the treasury department’s manual for official travel abroad states that luxury hotels “should be avoided” during official travel, “taking into account that the state bears the actual cost for officials who accompany the House president or MPs on official duty”, and said this document “was ignored”.

“Let’s say that we include the person who was there for her security. For the rest, could they not look for and find something more economical? We did not find any effort made or documented that any effort was made to find a more economical solution for the others,” she said.

Asked if evidence arose to confirm that Demetriou herself was not involved in this process, she said that “no such evidence was found, but what I can say is that the House’s director-general [Tassoula Jeronymides] acts as a controlling officer and approves all payments”.

The report criticised Demetriou’s spending on her London trip, which took place in 2023, revealing that the bill for her entourage, which consisted of eight people, including five parliament officials, a journalist and a cameraman from CyBC, and one security guard, came to €15,172.

In addition, her own hotel room bill came to €3,621, meaning that a total of €18,793 was claimed as accommodation expenses for the trip.

In addition, the report pointed out that during the same trip to London, Demetriou had claimed €7,674 in expenses for “VIP facilities” for herself and eight others at London’s Heathrow airport.

It said the expenses claim “does not include all the necessary information”, including the names of the individuals who made use of the facilities, and that “no adequate description of the service is given, nor is the price per person”.

In addition to the matter of overseas travel, the report also pointed out that parliament spent €77,500 on furniture without carrying out a tender process, instead negotiating directly with the chosen provider.

Meanwhile, the purchase of €60,620 worth of air conditioning units was also carried out without a tender.