By Elias Hazou

LARNACA district court yesterday referred to criminal trial four suspects in connection to a multi-million land transaction involving the pension fund of telecoms utility CyTA.

The suspects face 19 charges in total, primarily conspiracy to defraud, corruption, engaging in fraudulent transactions on real estate property belonging to a third person, corrupting a public functionary, bribery and legitimising ill-gotten gains.

They are: businessman Nicos Lillis, 42, a shareholder of Wadnic Trading Ltd and chairman of Alki football club; Costas Miamiliotis, 53, a police sergeant serving in the secret service; Lefteris Mouskou, 40, also a police sergeant with the secret service; and the company Wadnic Trading Ltd as a legal entity.

A criminal court will begin hearing the case in Larnaca on October 2.

Lilli, Miamiliotis and Mouskou have been released pending their trial, each posting a €20,000 bail. The district court ordered the three to hand in their passports and travel documents, and their names have been placed on a stop list.

The two officers – already suspended from duty – are suspected of conspiring to draft a false report that enabled the sale of the land, which belonged to a Turkish Cypriot.

The officers allegedly produced a report saying the Turkish Cypriot seller had resided in the government-controlled areas for six months – a necessary condition — prior to selling the land.

Lilli is suspected of bribing the two officers to draft a favourable report so that his company – Wadnic Trading – could purchase the land.

Detectives have traced two cheques made out to the officers by Lillis: one made out to Miamiliotis for €40,000, the other to Mouskou for €10,000.

According to the charges, Miamiliotis drew up a report falsely affirming that the Turkish Cypriot seller was a resident in the south; and Mouskou is suspected of turning a blind eye (dereliction of duty).

Earlier, both sergeants admitted to receiving the money, but claimed the transactions were linked neither to their capacity as officers nor to the Dromolaxia land deal. The court dismissed their claims as they could not be verified.

The ministry of justice has said that more arrests are imminent.

More than 40 prosecution witnesses are expected to be summoned to testify at the criminal trial. They include current deputy chief of police Andreas Kyriacou, who at one point during the time in question headed the secret service, and Vassos Georgiou, former director of the Office of the President (during the prior administration of Demetris Christofias).

The star witness is businessman Charalambos Liotatis, connected to Wadnic Trading Ltd, the company which bought the land plot in 2007.

It was Liotatis’ allegations before an ongoing panel of inquiry that led authorities to initiate a criminal investigation.

The land in Dromolaxia, Larnaca, was sold to Lillis’ Wadnic Trading. The company then allegedly changed the land’s terms of use, upgraded the coefficients, built on it and sold it on to the CyTA pension fund, at several times the price it was purchased from the original owner.

Liotatis has also alleged that kickbacks were given to an MP and a senior CyTA official to grease the deal.

The inquiry and subsequent criminal probe has had political blowback, with CyTA chairman Stathis Kittis tendering his resignation following pressure from the government. Kittis, who has denied any wrongdoing, says CyTA’s pension fund investment in the land was above board.

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By Peter Stevenson

TWO Romanian men aged 57 and 46 were remanded for eight days by the Larnaca district court yesterday in connection with the murder of a Romanian woman on Monday.

The woman, identified as Mirela Dunca, 56, was found dead in a flat near the church of Ayios Lazaros on Monday just before noon.

Larnaca police spokesman Charalambos Zachariou said she had been in Cyprus for seven years and in 2008 had married an Indian man. The victim was homeless and living in an abandoned house. The two suspects, living in Larnaca for the last five or six years, are unemployed, Zachariou added.

At around 11.40am on Monday, the 57-year-old reported to police there was a dead woman in his flat. Officers found Dunca fully clothed on a bed. She had sustained multiple injuries caused by a blunt object.

While police were there, the 46-year-old arrived at the flat. He claimed he did not know what had happened.

Both suspects initially denied any involvement in the murder but Zachariou said there were inconsistencies in their statements. Police said later yesterday the 57-year-old had confessed.

In his initial statement, he claimed that at midnight on Sunday he was visited by the second suspect and the victim, who already had bruises on her body. The three began drinking but he said he asked the woman to leave at around 3am.

She refused and he slapped her twice in the face. They then went to bed together and the 46-year-old left. At around 8am he woke up and found Dunca dead, he claimed. He called the other man to meet him. He claims the 46-year-old told him not to say anything and to get rid of the body but he decided instead to go to police.

In his statement, the 46-year-old claimed he and the 57-year-old were walking to the flat and stopped off where Dunca lived, and that the older man had hit her. They then went back to the flat and the victim joined them later.

At some stage the 46-year-old suggested he take Dunca to his place because she was drunk but the 57-year-old threatened he would kill them both.

The 46-year-old then claimed his compatriot took a hammer and began hitting Dunca.

He did not intervene but threatened to call police. The three then continued drinking and at around 3.30am on Monday the 46-year-old went home, saying the victim was still alive.

At around 9am on Monday his compatriot called him, saying there was something wrong with Dunca. They then met up and he gave the older man money to take her to a doctor. He did not know she was dead.

A post mortem concluded Dunca had died from internal bleeding caused by injury from a blunt object.

The police spokesman said other statements claim the 57-year-old had a rocky relationship with the victim. They were both described as alcoholics who would argue to the point of violence. Another statement claims the two suspects were seen dragging the woman violently by the arms earlier that evening.

Zachariou told the court that another 40 statements would be taken, and that CCTV footage would be examined. The suspects will also be evaluated by a state psychiatrist.

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By Peter Stevenson

THE GOVERNMENT will go ahead with the privatisation of semi-government organisations (SGOs) very soon because it is part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the troika, deputy government spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos said yesterday.

Papadopoulos addressed reporters following the end of a meeting of the National Council on the economy at the presidential palace, headed by President Nicos Anastasiades.
“An in-depth, extremely useful exchange of views took place on major issues concerning future structural changes, especially on state health and social policies and on privatisations,” he said.

“It was agreed and decided that the National Council on the economy will have a substantial involvement in the formulation of ideas and decision-making as an advisory organ to the government,” he said.

Asked about the subject of social policies, the government spokesman said that council had told the president that it had examined the government’s suggestion of a guaranteed minimum income.

“The council completely agrees and favours the move as a very fair social measure,” he said. Papadopoulos was asked by reporters whether the privatisation of the three large SGOs, the Electricity Authority, the Telecommunications Authority and the Ports Authority, was on the agenda for discussion when the troika visits in October.

“They (privatisations) are an obligation of the MoU and very soon we will begin discussing the matter,” he replied.

Referring to the outcome of the Bank of Cyprus (BoC) AGM yesterday Papadopoulos said the government was closely monitoring the situation and said BoC was the main ‘steam engine’ of the island’s economy.

For that reason, he said, the bank needs to follow an upward trend in the coming months. “The government cannot get involved in a private organisation, in a private company, that for now falls under the jurisdiction of the resolution authority,” he concluded.

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By Maria Gregoriou

POLICE are investigating a possible case of surveillance being carried out on former interior minister Eleni Mavrou after a number of documents to do with the National Council were found in the possession of two men.

The documents were found when a car was pulled over by traffic police in Nicosia on Saturday. The two men are aged 33 and 19.

According to police spokesman Andreas Angelides, the 19-year-old man from Georgia, who was driving the car, had a fake Greek ID. The 33-year-old man is an illegal immigrant from Georgia, who was in possession of a fake driving licence.

“Upon searching the car, the police officers found some documents having to do with the National Council in a black plastic bag that belonged to Eleni Mavrou,” he said. The National

Council is the advisory body to the President on the Cyprus issue.

The two suspects were taken to the Paphos Gate police station. Mavrou was also called in, Angelides said.

The documents in pair’s possession were not classified, according Angelides. The 33-year-old man claimed that he was collecting old papers to use for his work as a painter.

Mavrou did say the documents were hers and she had put them in a bag for recycling and placed it outside her home. “I had put some newspapers, magazines, old bills and the documents in question in a bag for recycling,” Mavrou said.

“The car is registered to an illegal Kurdish immigrant, who has been off our radar since July, but the owner of the car is the 33-year-old,” Angelides said.
Mavrou hopes that the investigations will prove that there is a lot of fuss being made about nothing.

“I can only wait for the results of the investigations. I hope that in the end, this was just a coincidence and nothing more serious will be revealed,” Mavrou said.

“I hope things become clear as soon as possible. As the case is being handled by police I am sure it will be so and I am in contact with them for whatever information they may need,” Mavrou stated.

The two suspects have been remanded for eight days.

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By Maria Gregoriou

NICOSIA municipality has calculated that since July 24 when the temporary footbridge connecting Stasinou Avenue with old Nicosia was opened, more than 45,000 people have crossed in both directions.

During the first week of use, 798 people used the footbridge on average per day. From July 31 until September 5, more than 1,298 used the footbridge on average per day.

“The numbers show a significant increase in the movement of people crossing the footbridge, proving that the bridge is serving its purpose as a temporary solution until the Eleftheria Square project is finished,” the municipality said in a statement.

Communications officer Makis Nicolaides told the Mail the numbers were calculated by two tracking machines, one at the beginning of the bridge and one at the end.

“The figures recorded show that the number of people crossing the bridge was larger in August than in the first week of its use,” Nicolaides said.

The reasons for these monitoring machines are strictly for statistical purposes.

“People need time to get used to new ideas. A small number of people start using the construction and then this number grows until it reaches it peak and I believe we are not there yet,” he added.

According to the statistics, more people use the bridge coming from Stasinou Avenue into the old town than vice versa.

The footbridge also helps people with the problem of parking in the capital as it makes it easier for them to park on Makarios Avenue and cross over to the old town.

It takes less than seven minutes to walk from the old town to the city centre.

“It is difficult to find parking in the old town but Makarios Avenue and the nearby side roads are paved with many parking spots. The footbridge makes this movement from one area of the city to another easier, without worrying about finding parking,” Nicolaides said.

Nicolaides could not compare the current number of people moving from Makarios Avenue to the old part of town with numbers in the past. No means of measurement were set before the footbridge was constructed but “there was a lot of movement within Eleftheria Square,” he added.

The development of Eleftheria Square should be finished by the end of the year and the whole project surrounding the nearby area should be completed by the end of 2014.

“Once Eleftheria square is up and running the footbridge will be taken down as the strip of land where it is set-up will be part of the bigger project,” Nicolaides said.

The bridge has been placed at the narrowest part of the D’Avila moat wall and where the progress of works will not be hindered.

It starts at the back of Nicosia municipality behind the town hall building on Constantinou Paleologou Street and ends on Stasinou Avenue.

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A MEMBER of the secret service KYP is under disciplinary investigation after files containing surveillance information were found in his possession. The information was about politicians and ordinary citizens who had attended political gatherings. It was not exactly classified information, as it was obtained from public meetings that were covered by the media at the time can still be found on websites.

However, the existence of the files, containing documents, video footage and photographs and the fact that these were found in the possession of a KYP sergeant raised many questions. Why was KYP keeping records of the identity of people attending political meetings? Who had given orders for these records to be kept? Why were the files taken by the sergeant to his home? Had he received orders to remove them from the KYP offices because the new command might not approve of this type of surveillance?

According to all reports, it was low-level surveillance which did not require special intelligence-gathering skills or knowledge to carry it out. Any party-worker could have downloaded pictures and reports on political gatherings from web-sites and put them in a file for future use. Presumably, some minister or high-ranking official thought that trained KYP officers could perform this task better than a party worker.

It has been implied that the information gathering took place during the Christofias presidency, but there has been no official confirmation and AKEL, like the rest of the political parties, condemned the surveillance of politicians, describing it as “unacceptable”. It would certainly not come as a surprise if this activity took place under the previous government, many of the leading members of which had received their political schooling in the police states of the Warsaw Pact.

Then again it would not have been the first government to use KYP to keep tabs on its political opponents. Most governments have used the secret service in this way over the years, which is why the universal outrage expressed by all the political parties sounded a bit forced. But DISY vice-president George Georgiou was right to ask for an investigation that would reveal the identities of the politicians and groups that were being watched and the period in which the surveillance took place.

Publicity would be a step in the right direction as it might deter future governments from using KYP in this unacceptable way. This type of surveillance is innocuous, but it is still an abuse of power and a violation of personal freedom which could lead to worse abuses in the future. This is why it needs to be made public. Only then might the politicians and the KYP top brass which they appoint realise that the sole responsibility of the secret service is national security, not the activities of political opponents of the government.

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By Elias Hazou

A HIGH-RANKING officer from Russia’s Itera will be holding talks with officials here tomorrow in an apparently last-ditch attempt to close a deal on interim supplies of natural gas.
Itera’s latest bid to date – reportedly at €11 ($14.75) per million BTU – was turned down by the Natural Gas Public Company (DEFA) in consultation with the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC).

DEFA, which a year ago invited calls for expression of interest for the supply of natural gas as an interim solution, recently determined that Itera’s offer would not decrease the cost of electricity production. It did not scrap the tender, however.

Although the electricity utility is keeping its cost formula a closely-guarded secret, a recently leaked classified report indicates that the current cost of fuel (using heavy fuel oil and diesel) comes to €0.114 per kilowatt-hour, or €33.41 ($45.1) per million BTU.

Meanwhile the Ant1 news network last week revealed a confidential report, compiled by the EAC and forwarded to DEFA, showing that, under Itera’s offer, between 2015 and 2021 the electricity utility would save some €800m by running its plants almost exclusively on natural gas instead of heavy fuel oil (mazut) and diesel.

According to the report, the cost of mazut and diesel for the six years would come to some €3.3bn. By contrast, with natural gas under Itera’s offer, the fuel cost would amount to a little less than €2.5bn.

The price quoted by Itera – the preferred bidder – also reportedly took into account the continuing operation of power units at the Dekelia power plant as a back-up.

While acknowledging the report is genuine, the EAC has countered that the report’s findings were founded on initial assumptions made by Itera that are no longer valid.

The EAC said, for example, that Itera’s calculations were based on outdated forecasts regarding fuel needs over the next few years. Due to the ongoing financial squeeze, the electricity utility now says it anticipates a sharp drop in electricity demand this year – hence less fuel needs to be purchased. Initially the utility had projected spending €650m on fuel purchases for 2013; they are now projecting around €480m.

Therefore, the EAC, argued, Itera exaggerated Cyprus’ fuel needs.

EAC spokesman Costas Gavrielides said moreover that Itera had made a number of other false assumptions.

He said the Russian company had over-calculated the efficiency of the turbines running on natural gas, and as a result had arrived at an erroneous conclusion on how much gas is needed to generate a certain amount of power.

Gavrielides said also that Itera failed to take into consideration the three steam units at Vasilikos power plant which run on mazut, but have been converted to burn natural gas as well. Mazut costs the EAC around €500 per metric tonne.

All of the EAC’s arguments have been refuted point-by-point by a Cypriot academic whom Itera engaged as a private consultant to prepare a report on their behalf.

In August, Herodotos Phylaktou, a senior lecturer at the University of Leeds and a member of the university’s Energy Research Institute, delivered a report comparing and contrasting Itera’s offer to the EAC’s current electricity costs.

In a statement released earlier this week, Phylaktou said all his calculations were based on available data, that he did not inflate the efficiency of the gas turbines, and that – contrary to the EAC’s claims – his report did factor in the three steam units at Vasilikos.

Hitting back, Phylaktou accused the EAC of seeking to discredit him by misrepresenting his findings.

The EAC is expected to argue its side of the story at a press conference in Nicosia today.

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By Alix Norman

When he’s good, I call my other half ‘honey’. And though I may consider myself the queen bee in the relationship, I will admit – in writing – that he’s the bee’s knees. You can see where I’m going with this, can’t you… yes, it’s all about bees, an insect so ubiquitous that it’s been part of our language, history and culture for time immemorial. But it’s only recently that the world has woken to the realisation that bees are not merely a source of idiomatic inspiration, they are absolutely fundamental to the survival of the human race. Worth 20 million euros to the European economy each year, bees are providers not only of honey, but also of wax, bee pollen, bee propolis and royal jelly. And one of every three bites of food comes from plants pollinated by honeybees; without bees, we would soon starve.

“We basically can’t survive without the services that bees give us,” says Leni Photi, an avid apiarist and environmental scientist. Leni is the new breed of eco warrior – smartly dressed, eloquent and highly educated. She’s been a beekeeper for nearly a year now, motivated by the desire to bring a degree of sustainability to the community, and is currently the proud owner of over 20,000 Buckfast bees housed in intriguingly named hives. The ‘Maroulla’ Hive, named for Leni’s mother, houses a colony that work slowly but surely, she tells me. And the ‘Jim Morrison’ hive is home to bees that live fast and die young!

Leni is passionate about community and sustainability: she uses organic materials to both create and maintain her hives, from which she expects to harvest up to 20 kilos of honey this year. But it’s not the liquid gold that’s the driving force behind this inspirational young woman. It’s the fact that she is one of the few people on the island privy to the alarming truth: bees are our future. “Quite apart from the fact that they are a fundamental part of their own ecosystem, bees are vital to human continuation,” she explains. “Without bees pollinating most of our fruit and veg, fresh produce would just cease to exist; in effect, we would starve.” And here’s the really bad news: bees are dying out.

“The wild bee populations are virtually non-existent in Europe,” Leni cautions. “They’ve been killed off by the overuse of pesticides. And the same statistic is hugely affecting the USA: as the biggest global exporter of almonds – pollinated, of course, by bees – California is having to import millions of apiaries from the other side of the country.” Everywhere you look there’s a bee shortage and nowhere is it more apparent than in small, unique ecosystems that are isolated by water. Like Cyprus.

“We can’t let Cyprus get into the same situation,” Leni entreats. “Imagine what such a problem would be like on an island – bees can’t fly across from mainland Europe. Our industrial farming system has majorly threatened bees and beekeepers, and there’s also a great deal of unchecked development, which is affecting the ecosystem’s capacity to regenerate itself. Coupled with this rapid urban development has come an increase in ignorance and fear: children raised in cities no longer understand the importance of wildlife. And bees are thus often perceived as a threatening rather than advantageous. What we need is to promote beekeeping on a much larger scale – within our lifestyles.”

And this is exactly what Leni, who is based in Oroklini, is doing. Originally, her hives were sited atop the roof of her building, a practise much advocated abroad, where people are encouraged to keep bees in the city. “There are many urban beekeepers in London, fully endorsed by the local councils,” she says. “Dead space in urban areas is used to establish apiaries, bringing life back to the city and contributing to the greening of urban areas. The general public are very supportive – they understand the dilemma, and want to be part of the solution. Here in Cyprus, however, most people are unaware of the vital services bees provide us with.”

As a passionate advocate of urban beekeeping, Leni – and her beekeeping colleagues Roger White and Panayiotis Varnarva – has found her efforts to create sustainable bee populations within the area continually frustrated: restrictions based on a lack of understanding state that a hive must be further than 150m of a house. “This is an arbitrary distance to a creature that usually forages for food several kilometres from the hive, and stings only when severely threatened,” Leni adds. “I feel that urban beekeeping is very much a solution to the environmental problems we have caused – by thinking global and acting local. If more people wanted to promote urban beekeeping then local laws would change along with a shift in cultural perceptions.”

It’s a persuasive argument, especially when Leni tells me that – under the current laws – her hives have had to be relocated to a local community forest: “All the local beekeepers have had to concentrate their apiaries in very small areas, not only increasing the risk to the general public, but also negating the effectiveness of the bee population in terms of the area they are able to pollinate. It’s causes unnecessary competition for food among the apiaries, and not only is the wider landscape suffering, but the weaker bees are dying. And this situation is affecting the whole island.”

The lack of bees, it seems, is not just affecting our local flora, but our entire way of life: “It’s not just a case of no more pretty flowers,” Leni explains. “It’s an economic problem and a survival problem. By protecting our bee population we’re protecting our future. Even a small effort, such as growing rosemary – a bee-friendly plant – on your balcony would make a huge difference,” she suggests, mentioning that this is one of the many measures (which also include education in schools and informational programme on television) applied in the UK.
In fact, in much of the world, people act as if saving the bees is their last chance to save the planet. Which it may be. In 50 years from now, will your kids also be calling their spouses ‘honey’? Or, as they sit down to a barren table, will they have forgotten what the word even means?

For further information about bees and beekeeping, you can contact the PanCyprian Beekeepers Association www.cybeeas.org or visit their Facebook page. You can also email LeniPhoti on geophoti@hotmail.co.uk

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THE CABINET yesterday established a public consultation day to be held every four months, gave the green light for the creation of a national committee on research, innovation and technological development, and approved a declaration on the rights and responsibilities of volunteers.
Deputy government spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos announced the decisions after the meeting.
The declaration of the rights and responsibilities of volunteers and the creation of a public consultation day, were suggested by commissioner for volunteering and NGOs, Yiannis Yiannaki.
According to Papadopoulos the declaration is in line with the rights of volunteers in Europe as reflected in the Council of Europe’s documents and 40 European volunteer networks.
On consultation day, government officials will consult with school, university and NGO societies, as well as National Guard representatives and individual citizens.
“Their views will be taken into consideration before the government makes any decisions or adopts any measures,” Papadopoulos said.
Commenting on the creation of a national committee on research, innovation and technological development, Papadopoulos said the committee would look into successful practices implemented in other European countries. This research will go towards creating a new comprehensive development network.
“After looking into these practices the committee will submit a proposal to the president as to how the present system in place can be upgraded,” the spokesman said.
The committee will be comprised of general executive medical director of the Institute of Neurology and Genetics of Cyprus Philippos Patsalis, Cyprus University of Technology vice rector for academic affairs Toula Onoufriou, Frederick University dean Costas Kadis, University of Cyprus’ assistant professor Nicos Nicolaou and former Cyprus Chambers of Commerce president Manthos Mavrommatis.

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By Peter Stevenson

PUPILS from the primary school in Kato Pyrgos Tylliria protested for a third day yesterday by not entering their classes.
All 50 children, with the support of their parents refused to enter their classrooms in protest following the education ministry’s decision not to increase teaching staff
Monday was the first day children were due back at school for the new academic year.
Both the head of the local council Costas Michaelides and head of the schools parent association Nicos Cleanthous were in discussions on Monday and Tuesday with the ministry in their attempts to find a solution.
Parents claim the ministry made promises last year that there would be at least six teachers at the school regardless of the amount of children. There are currently three full time teachers, with the headmaster and another teacher working part time.
During an emergency general meeting on Tuesday night two suggestions were made, Cleanthous revealed. The first was that pupils would return to classes with efforts to continue to bring one more teacher to the school and the second that the protests would continue.
It was unanimously decided that the protest would continue.
Cleanthous’ last plea towards the education ministry according to reports was for the same number of teachers to remain at school while one teacher would see their working hours increased from 19 to 29 hours and another from 12 hours to 29 hours a week to meet requirements.
“The pupils will not return to their classrooms until the agreement made in September 2011 is kept,” Cleanthous said, adding “the school will remain shut”.
The September 2011 agreement stipulated that the ministry would keep five full-time teachers, one part-time teacher and a school head at the Kato Pyrgos primary school regardless of how many children attended, the head of the parents association said.
The parents association and pupils were due outside the education ministry in Nicosia on Monday but following the protest was postponed.
Cleanthous called on the ministry to show compassion, towards both students and their parents and all the difficulties they have to go through because they decided to stay in the most remote area on the island.
Students and parents also protested outside the Yiannakis Taliotis high-school in Yeroskipou yesterday after Ancient Greek, Latin and Architectural Design were removed from the subject list.
The parents association and local authorities said they feel that the decision by the education ministry not to increase the number of teachers at the school is leading to its shrinkage. Students from Yeroskipou and 17 other communities east of Paphos are all enrolled at the school.
While the school in Yeroskipou is shrinking, with numbers believed to have decreased by 100 over the last two years, more than 750 students are now enrolled in some of Paphos’ public high schools.
“Those subjects are requisites for the Pancyprian exams for students who want to study at higher educational institutes on the island,” head of the parents association Georgia Charalambidou said. She added that she hopes the education ministry takes their demands into consideration.

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By Peter Stevenson
DESPERATE times call for desperate measures with thousands of unemployed showing an interest in paying a one-time fee of €1,220 to a company in Larnaca in order to get a job, sources at the labour ministry have revealed, but it could be illegal.
In the midst of a financial crisis, with unemployment on the rise many people have thrown caution to the wind and are even paying out money if it ensures they find a job.
The sources said that for €1,220, a company in Larnaca promises to find any applicant a job in Lille in France with a monthly salary of €1,500, working 35 hours a week. It includes accommodation and depending on job availability the company could take them elsewhere in Europe.
According to the same sources, applicants must pay €620 once they sign the initial contract with the company, with the rest of the money taken from their next two salaries. The payment is allegedly made as a guarantee.
Police spokesman Andreas Angelides confirmed that the police are investigating the legality of the procedure and have been in contact with the labour ministry’s relevant department.
The company’s status remains unclear according to both the ministry and police as its representatives deny being a recruitment agency. They claim they are undertaking private work in France and that they will be directly employing the applicants to work on their construction sites.
The ministry has been inundated with calls asking about the company, with sources claiming that thousands of people have visited their offices in Larnaca and that the number is increasing day-by-day.
Ministry officials have visited the company’s offices to carry out an inspection but were unable to speak to a manager or owner of the company as they are both abroad.
On Friday the ministry released a statement where it stressed it is against the law for private companies, which act as intermediaries to find jobs for the unemployed, to receive payment from applicants.
“It is forbidden to receive payment from job seekers, directly or indirectly, if they are helping them find permanent employment,” the statement said.
It warned the public to be extremely careful when performing any transactions with those sorts of companies and that making any down payments to intermediaries should be avoided.

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By Peter Stevenson

IN THE wake of a spare of surveillance-related reports this month, AKEL leader, Andros Kyprianou said yesterday he feels like he is also being watched.
Asked on Sigma TV yesterday about the recent revelations that the secret service (KYP) has been watching political figures, Kyprianou said that he feels like his phone has been tapped.
He has reported the matter to President Nicos Anastasiades although, as he admitted yesterday, he has no evidence to back it up.
“The government should have informed us on the subject of surveillance so that it would not get blown out of proportion,” he said, adding that allowing the media to speculate was causing the public to worry.
On Monday a 45-year-old police sergeant from KYP was suspended after surveillance files were found in his home in Larnaca with reports suggesting it could be connected to a multi-million land deal involving the telecoms authority CyTA.
According to reports, the files are related to the surveillance of high-ranking politicians. The chief of police has ordered a criminal and disciplinary investigation.
“I can confirm the 45-year-old sergeant from the secret service has been suspended and that a criminal and disciplinary investigation will take place,” police spokesman Andreas Angelides said.
He added that the files’ contents would be studied thoroughly although he could not comment on what led the police to search the 45-year-old’s home.
On Tuesday police said they were investigating a possible case of surveillance being carried out on former interior minister Eleni Mavrou after a number of documents to do with the National Council were found in the possession of two men.
The documents were found when a car was pulled over by traffic police in Nicosia on Saturday. The two men are aged 33 and 19.
According Angelides, the 19-year-old man from Georgia, who was driving the car, had a fake Greek ID. The 33-year-old man is an illegal immigrant from Georgia, who was in possession of a fake driving licence.
On searching the car, the police officers found some documents to do with the National Council in a black plastic bag, which Mavrou said she had put out for recycling.

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THE CABINET yesterday appointed two executive members to the board of the Central Bank (CBC), prompting a fierce reaction from main opposition AKEL.
The government handed executive powers to board member Stelios Kiliaris and senior CBC director Giorgos Syrihas.
It was the latter’s appointment, which enraged AKEL.
“AKEL considers the act unacceptable,” party spokesman Giorgos Loukaides said in a statement.
AKEL associates Syrihas with former CBC governor Athanasios Orphanides whom the party holds responsible for the island’s economic woes.
Syrihas had been sidelined after former president Demetris Christofias appointed current governor Panicos Demetriades in May 2012.
The communist party said Syrihas was effectively acting as a deputy governor and his appointment was a “brutal provocation towards the Cypriot people who is suffering today by the consequences of the banks’ actions and the omissions of the regulating authorities.”
The appointment aimed at controlling the CBC and not an effort to improve the role of the regulator.
“On the contrary, it constitutes a reward for those who bear very serious responsibility for the condition of the banking system,” Loukaides said.

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By George Psyllides

THE BIGGEST dangers for the banking sector have been overcome, the finance minister said yesterday, following the election of a board to the island’s biggest lender, the Bank of Cyprus (BoC).
“I am not saying we are through – the banking system and the economy still have a long way to go – there are important steps to be taken, but we can all see that the very difficult, dangerous times are behind us,” Harris Georgiades told state television. “We are in a period of stabilisation.”
The new 16-member board includes six foreign nationals, mostly Russians, representing individuals who lost considerable amounts of money in the forced conversion of 47.5 per cent of deposits exceeding €100,000 in order to recapitalise BoC.
Cypriot provident funds are also represented in the board, as well as the mighty Church of Cyprus, a major BoC shareholder before the dilution that followed the cash seizure.
The finance minister said it was positive that the board represented the owners of the bank who had an incentive to see the bank do well.
The name that stands out among the foreign members was that of Vladimir Strzhalkovskiy, a former KGB official and ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Strzhalkovskiy was elected vice-president of the board, which is headed by academic Christis Hassapis.
Other members are Dmitry Chichikashvili, president of Insigma Group, a Moscow-based construction company, Igor Lazhevsk, Deutche Bank’s deputy chairman for Eastern Europe, Anzhelika Anshakova, a board of director of Binbank, Eriskhan Kurazov, General Director at CJSC, a Moscow-based finance group, and Anton Smetanin, a lawyer who has served on the board of the Bank of Moscow.
The Cyprus Mail has learned that during their first meeting on Wednesday, the Russian directors had asked to see the lender’s non-performing loans (NPL).
BoC is plagued by NPLs worth hundreds of millions belonging to big developers and the board will soon have to deal with the matter.
On the plus side, observers suggested yesterday that the old regime that is responsible for the mess has mostly gone.
The board is made up of people with a personal stake in the bank whose survival would enable them to recoup what they lost and possibly more.
Of course it will be an uphill battle considering the fact that the island’s economy is in freefall.
The President of the European Parliament said Cyprus was brought to its knees by the terms of the bailout decided by the Eurogroup in March.
“Small and medium businesses and private individuals have no access to loans at the moment. Thus investment in the country is not possible unless they come from outside,” Martin Schulz told reporters.
The EU official said this was catastrophic as it led to the economy coming to a complete halt.
“We must talk with the European Investment Bank because I do not thing there is any other country that needs investment so much as Cyprus,” he said.

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By Constantinos Hadjistassou

PRODUCTION tests, also known as drill stem tests, are a milestone in the development of a hydrocarbons field and its conversion into a proved reserve. The process primarily aims at: (a) quantifying the production capacity; (b) determining the pressure of the fluids (oil, natural gas and/or other hydrocarbon gases and fluids within a reservoir; (c) confirming the permeability (flow of the hydrocarbons) and the porosity (volume of hydrocarbons) of the bedrock in the reservoir; and (d) delimiting the area of the formation. Moreover, during a production test samples of natural gas are extracted for chemical analysis to determine the composition and quality of the fluids.

During a production test a small quantity of hydrocarbons is allowed to rise through the drill string and up to the surface. Where offshore prospects of natural gas are concerned, this volume of gas is burned at sea in a process known as gas flaring. Although the importance of flaring is more symbolic than anything else, it is a step that can generate a great deal of optimism. As for the colour of the flame – which has received much coverage in the media – it is expected, depending on the richness of the fuel-air mixture, to be yellowish to golden, reflecting the excellent quality of the natural gas, which is likely to be pure methane.

However, the hydrocarbon deposit acquires even greater value if natural gas condensates are detected along with methane gas. Environmental considerations limit natural gas flaring. For the record, flaring of hydrocarbons is not permitted in Europe except in special circumstances, for example in emergency situations. Also significant is the fact that the production tests will demonstrate whether additional appraisal wells will need to be drilled or whether the gas field can be declared a commercial asset. The conversion of the Aphrodite gas field into a proved reserve, with the assistance of independent experts, would usher in a new era for Cyprus.

In tandem with plans to build a liquefaction terminal, natural gas bonds may be issued to raise the necessary capital for this grand project. It’s worth noting that the liquefaction plant in Cyprus would be the first of its kind on European territory. The commercialisation of the discovery – subsea systems and floating offshore installations, including laying the submarine pipeline that will siphon the natural gas to Vasilikos – can be implemented in a timeline of three to four years.

The bedrock’s morphology in the reservoir is key to developing a hydrocarbon find. In the case of the Aphrodite field, seismic and other measurements have shown that the reservoir is possibly divided into three transverse zones that could be faults in the bedrock. If the field is uniform without crevasses, then it becomes relatively easy to calculate the volume of natural gas (in cubic meters). Measurements using specialised instruments (well logging) from both of the wells (appraisal and exploratory) as well as calculations from simulations using computational models can diagnose whether the reservoir is a single field or not. Based on these data, engineers will be able to determine the need for a second appraisal well. If the odds are stacked in our favour, the Aphrodite reservoir will be found to contain a proved reserve of natural gas of at least 200 billion cubic feet (bcm). One hopes that commercial development of natural gas can act as a catalyst for a rebound of the Cyprus economy and the reining in of unemployment.

Constantinos Hadjistassou is a partner at Energy Sequel (www.energysequel.com) and researcher in hydrocarbons and low-carbon technologies at the University of Cyprus

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By Dani Rodrik

TÜRKAN Saylan was a trailblazing physician, one of Turkey’s first female dermatologists and a leading campaigner against leprosy. She was also a staunch secularist who established a foundation to provide scholarships to young girls so they could attend school. In 2009, police raided her house and confiscated documents in an investigation that linked her to an alleged terrorist group, called “Ergenekon,” supposedly bent on destabilizing Turkey in order to precipitate a military coup.
Saylan was terminally ill with cancer at the time and died shortly thereafter. But the case against her associates continued and became part of a vast wave of trials directed against opponents of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his allies in the powerful Gülen movement, made up of the followers of the Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen.
The evidence in this case, as in so many others, consists of Microsoft Word documents found on a computer that belonged to Saylan’s foundation. When American experts recently examined the forensic image of the hard drive, they made a startling – but for Turkey all too familiar – discovery. The incriminating files had been placed on the hard drive sometime after the computer’s last use at the foundation. Because the computer had been seized by the police, the finding pointed rather directly to official malfeasance.
Fabricated evidence, secret witnesses, and flights of investigative fancy are the foundation of the show trials that Turkish police and prosecutors have mounted since 2007. In the infamous Sledgehammer case, a military-coup plot was found to contain glaring anachronisms, including the use of Microsoft Office 2007 in documents supposedly last saved in 2003. (My father-in-law is among the more than 300 officers who were locked up, and my wife and I have been active in documenting the case’s fabrications.)
The list of revelations and absurdities goes on and on. In one case, a document describing a plot directed against Christian minorities turned out to have been in police possession before the authorities claimed to have recovered it from a suspect. In another, police “discovered” the evidence that they were seeking, despite going to the wrong address and raiding the home of a naval officer whose name sounded similar to that of the target.
Yet none of the trials has yet been derailed. Most have had the support and blessing of Erdoğan, who has exploited them to discredit the old secular guard and cement his rule. Even more important, the trials have had the strong backing of the Gülen movement.
Gülen lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, where he presides over a huge informal network of schools, think tanks, businesses, and media across five continents. His devotees have established roughly 100 charter schools in the United States alone, and the movement has gained traction in Europe since the first Gülen school was founded in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1995.
Back home, Gülen’s followers have created what is effectively a state within the Turkish state, gaining a strong foothold in the police force, the judiciary, and the bureaucracy. Gülenists deny that they control the Turkish police, but, as a US ambassador to Turkey put it in 2009, “we have found no one who disputes it.”
The movement’s influence within the judiciary ensures that its members’ transgressions remain unchallenged. In one well-documented case, a non-commissioned officer at a military base, acting on behalf of the Gülen movement, was caught planting documents in order to embarrass military officials. The military prosecutor investigating the case soon found himself in jail on trumped-up charges, while the perpetrator was reinstated. A senior police commissioner who had been close to the movement and wrote an exposé about its activities was accused of collaborating with the far-left groups that he had spent much of his career pursuing; he, too, ended up in jail.
The Gülen movement uses these trials to lock up critics and replace opponents in important state posts. The ultimate goal seems to be to reshape Turkish society in the movement’s own conservative-religious image. Gülenist media have been particularly active in this cause, spewing a continuous stream of disinformation about defendants in Gülen-mounted trials while covering up police misdeeds.
But relations between Erdoğan and the Gülenists have soured. Once their common enemy, the secularists, were out of the way, Erdoğan had less need for the movement. The breaking point came in February 2012, when Gülenists tried to bring down his intelligence chief, a close confidant, reaching perilously close to Erdoğan himself. Erdoğan responded by removing many Gülenists from their positions in the police and judiciary.
But Erdoğan’s ability to take on the Gülen movement is limited. Bugging devices were recently found in Erdoğan’s office, planted, his close associates said, by the police. Yet Erdoğan, known for his brash style, responded with remarkable equanimity. If he harbored any doubt that the movement sits on troves of embarrassing – and possibly far worse – intelligence, the bugging revelation must surely have removed it.
The foreign media have focused mainly on Erdoğan’s behavior in recent months. But if Turkey has turned into a Kafkaesque quagmire, a republic of dirty tricks and surreal conspiracies, it is Gülenists who must shoulder much of the blame. This is worth remembering in view of the movement’s efforts to dress up its current opposition to Erdoğan in the garb of democracy and pluralism.
Gülenist commentators preach about the rule of law and human rights, even as Gülenist media champion flagrant show trials. The movement showcases Fethullah Gülen as a beacon of moderation and tolerance, while his Turkish-language Web site peddles his anti-Semitic, anti-Western sermons. Such double talk seems to have become second nature to Gülenist leaders.
The good news is that the rest of the world has started to see Erdoğan’s republic for what it is: an increasingly authoritarian regime built around a popular but deeply flawed leader. Indeed, his government’s crackdown on dissent may well have cost Istanbul the 2020 Olympics. What has yet to be recognized is the separate, and quite disturbing, role that the Gülen movement has played in bringing Turkey to its current impasse. As Americans and Europeans debate the Gülen movement’s role in their own societies, they should examine Turkey’s experience more closely.
Dani Rodrik, Professor of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey, is the author of The Globalization Paradox: Democracy and the Future of the World Economy.
© Project Syndicate 1995–2013

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AFTER weeks of speculation and public bickering the Bank of Cyprus’ new shareholders elected a board of directors, at an ill-tempered AGM. The 16 new members included six Russians who lost big amounts of money in the forced conversion of deposits to equity.

This was an ironic twist, considering one of the objectives of the bail-in was to punish Russian oligarchs who, according to German politicians and newspapers were allegedly using the Cypriot banks for money laundering. Now the people that the Eurogroup wanted to punish will be in control of Cyprus’ biggest bank, even though they have paid a premium price for this control.

This is not necessarily a bad thing for the bank or the country. On the contrary, having individuals determined to recover the funds they lost in the bail-in, by ensuring a speedy return of the bank to profitability, could be a blessing. Foreign directors are more likely to back the difficult and drastic decisions that need to be taken, because they will have no interest in keeping on the good side of the union, the politicians or the customers with NPLs happy.

Cypriot directors, on the other hand, are more likely to adopt the softly-softly approach to resolving the big problems faced by the bank, as had been the case with the ineffectual interim board. What the BoC needs more thank anything is strong leadership that would act decisively in implementing the strategic plan drafted by the foreign consultants. This would involve taking unpopular decisions such as selling off assets used as collateral by customers with NPLs, clashing with the bank employees union ETYK over pay and work conditions and selling bank subsidiaries, while ignoring political pressure.

It would be an important step towards regaining some public confidence and trust which are currently non-existent. Improving the public perception of the bank must be the priority, but this cannot be achieved solely through a clever advertising campaign. There must be concrete evidence that the board is ruthlessly pursuing a plan of action that would ensure a return to normalcy in one, two or three years.

The sooner the bank is on the road to recovery the better for the economy. But very tough and unpopular decisions that would be opposed by different interest groups would have to be taken before this is possible. We hope the new board will successfully meet the big challenges it faces, because the Cyprus economy is dependent on it.

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By Poly Pantelides

THE long-awaited offshore natural gas production test got underway yesterday and the flame was finally ignited following the repair of a glitch that temporarily halted the process last week.
Charles Ellinas, chairman of the Cyprus National Hydrocarbons Company, said that what is known as a drill stem test at the Block 12 concession operated by US-based Noble Energy, started yesterday morning.
“[Noble] has told us everything is underway normally,” Ellinas said.
The test was scheduled to start last week but was put on hold due to a mechanical malfunction.
Ellinas said such problems and difficulties were not unusual, but said that Noble Energy had extensive experience in dealing with such processes.
Noble is running the test to measure pressure behaviour and obtain information to establish whether a well has a viable commercial hydrocarbon reservoir.
As part of the test, a flame was ignited on the platform – ENSCO 5006 – in a process known as flaring.
Ellinas said this was only a precaution, aimed at disposing the natural gas safely. Flaring is set to last about a week, and gas samples will be sent to Noble’s labs in the US in Houston for analysis.
Preliminary findings on the hydrocarbon content should be available within three weeks after the content arrives in Houston but other calculations pertaining to the quantity should take longer.
Speaking about the possibility of a second confirmatory drilling, Ellinas recalled that when the CEO of Noble, Charles Davidson, announced the conduct of confirmatory drilling in Block 12 last year, OTC Huston had said that there was a 25 per cent likelihood that a second confirmatory drilling would be required..
Ellinas said that the analysis of a confirmatory drilling was governed by international regulations and that the analysis of the results must meet certain criteria based on probabilities.
If drilling does not meet the criteria a second drilling may be needed, Ellinas said, adding that in any case by the end of September “we will know whether second confirmatory drilling is required or not”.
The production test is part of appraisal drilling in Cyprus’ Block 12 concession, which has a gross mean average of 7.0 trillion cubic feet (tcf) (200 billion cubic metres) of natural gas with an estimated gross resource range of 5.0 to 8.0 trillion cubic feet. Officials have said that proved reserves of 6tcf would be necessary for the prospect to be commercially viable.
Meanwhile, Energy minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis is having a series of meetings in the US with stakeholders in the energy field.
This includes a working lunch with Noble officials, and meetings with the newly-comprised joint action committee at the Congress for Greek-Israeli issues as well as members of US construction company Halliburton, which was told it could use its new Cyprus activities as a springboard for further action in the region, Lakkotrypis said.
Lakkotrypis also met with his US counterpart Ernest Moniz to discuss energy developments, as part of a series of meetings focusing on Cyprus’ hydrocarbons prospects.
Lakkotrypis has also met with a number of US state representatives, including the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Diplomacy Amos J Hochstein.
Lakkotrypis told the Cyprus News Agency they discussed energy safety and cooperation between Cyprus, the US and Israel.
“The US wants stability in the region and they have welcomed the cooperation between Cyprus, Greece and Israel”, he said.
The energy ministries of the three countries recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the fields of energy and water resources. In a joint communiqué the three ministers expressed the support of the privately launched EuroAsia Interconnector project aiming to connect the countries and “potentially allow for the export of electricity generated in the Eastern Mediterranean through the trans-European networks.”
Lakkotrypis will continue meetings in the coming days, and is pencilled in for a round table discussion of the World Policy Institute and New America Foundation, meetings with energy companies, and addressing business communities including the Cyprus-American Chamber of Commerce. He is due to return to Cyprus this Sunday.

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By Stefanos Evripidou

UN SPECIAL Adviser Alexander Downer is due to inform Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu today on the Greek Cypriot proposal for the return of Varosha as a massive confidence-building measure to get the new peace talks started with a spark.
Government spokesman Christos Stylianides yesterday welcomed the fact that Downer would raise the issue with Davutoglu.
“The issue of Famagusta has been raised and there is a behind the scenes diplomatic process at work,” he said, calling on the media to let diplomacy do its job.
“I don’t think anybody doubts that if the Greek Cypriot proposal on the issue of Famagusta is accepted this will give a new momentum and thrust to the talks,” he said.
Downer was in Cyprus this week to meet with the respective negotiators for the two sides, Andreas Mavroyiannis and Osman Ertug, and their bosses, President Nicos Anastasiades and Dervis Eroglu.
The two negotiators met yesterday to discuss how the negotiations will start and progress.
Downer hosted a dinner for Mavroyiannis and Ertug on Tuesday night, while meeting with Anastasiades and Eroglu on Wednesday.
Following his meetings with Anastasiades, Downer said talks would start once the necessary preparation was “properly done”.
He expressed the view that a solution would give the economy on both sides of the island “a huge boost”.
Downer confirmed that he would inform Davutoglu today on Anastasiades’ proposal for the return of the fenced off part of Famagusta- Varosha- to its lawful inhabitants. The UN official departed for Ankara yesterday to meet with the Turkish FM.
Speaking earlier in the week, Downer said a way had to be found to put “a new spark of excitement” into the process, which would raise people’s hopes and ensure they have “reasonable and positive expectations” that something will happen after at least 39 years of talks.
Meanwhile, Anastasiades yesterday briefed party leaders on his meeting with Downer and also discussed the letter he plans to send Eroglu in response to an initial letter sent by the Turkish Cypriot leader seeking a commitment from the president that the talks would start from where they left off.
Stylianides said the president and party leaders enjoyed a “convergence of views and common stance” on how to reply to Eroglu.
Anastasiades also briefed party leaders on letters under preparation that will be sent to the UN Secretary-General, the five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council, and the Presidents of the European Commission, Council and Parliament.
Regarding the start of peace talks, the spokesman said the Greek Cypriot-appointed negotiator Mavroyiannis was receiving instructions from Anastasiades on a regular basis regarding the necessary groundwork.
Asked whether the talks would start next month, Stylianides said the most important issue was to be well prepared ahead of the talks so that, if possible, they can start with “a new momentum”.
He added: “There is no question of changing the basis of negotiations.”

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By Stefanos Evripidou

THE SUPREME Court rejected an appeal by Attorney-general Petros Clerides against a decision by Paphos Criminal Court on a murder case for which the only suspect – a former policeman – was acquitted in May.
Neophytos Constantinou, a retired policeman in his mid-sixties, was the only suspect for the murder in February of Yovkon Ivan Krastev, the Bulgarian fiancé of Tasoula Constantinou, his former daughter-in-law.
Constantinou was acquitted of premeditated murder by the Paphos court in May with the court saying the three main prosecution witnesses were unreliable and the forensic evidence insufficient.
Krastev was shot in the chest on his doorstep in Tala village in Paphos at around 7.30am on February 8.
His fiancée, Tasoula, told the police that she saw Constantinou holding a gun immediately after a gunshot was heard.
Her mother and the domestic helper, who had just arrived from the Philippines nine days earlier, were also in the house when the murder took place and also gave testimonies.
In statements to the police, Tasoula and the helper both said they saw Constantinou outside the front door, though in an initial testimony given, the helper claimed she did not see him while Tasoula’s exact location when the shot was fired differed in two different testimonies given.
She also told police that her former father-in-law held Krastev responsible for the collapse of her marriage to his son.
The mother insisted in her testimony that the suspect was not wearing a mask but could not tell whether he was wearing a hat or glasses.
Tasoula and her husband got divorced in May 2012. Tasoula started seeing Krastev who moved in with her some five months before he was killed. They lived together in a house Tasoula and her former husband had built together on her land, isolated from other houses.
The Paphos court deemed the testimonies of all three witnesses as untrue, due to various contradictions that came up during the four testimonies given by the helper, two by Tasoula and two by her mother, mostly relating to where they were when the shot was heard and whether they actually saw Constantinou standing outside the house or not.
The AG appealed the decision based on the argument that the law had not been properly implemented in this case, while raising arguments on the court’s interpretation of the case law regarding the quality of identification evidence.
In examining the appeal, the Supreme Court did not examine the correctness of the court’s decision but the correctness of the procedure followed to reach that decision.
In its ruling on Wednesday, it concluded that the lower court did not consider the quality of the identification evidence since it considered the testimonies of all three prosecution witnesses to be untrue.
Since the prosecution based its case, “if not exclusively, then to a substantial degree” on the three witnesses, then the lower court rightly acquitted the suspect, said the Supreme Court, rejecting the AG’s appeal.

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