FOUL play was ruled out on Tuesday by state pathologist Sophocles Sophocleous in the death of a 60-year-old woman who was found on Monday in the garage of her home in Ayios Dhometios in Nicosia.

Lina Englezou-Kritsembi was reportedly found dead at around 3.30pm but the circumstances of her death were not immediately clear.

“It was an accident. She got stuck between the car door and the garage wall and died of asphyxiation after her chest was crushed,” Sophocleous said.

The blood found on the floor near the woman’s body came from her nose, Sophocleous added, following the pressure which was caused after her chest was crushed.

The state pathologist said that investigations would continue to determine the exact circumstances which led to the woman’s death.

Police spokesman Andreas Angelides said that investigations were ongoing but were proving difficult as none of the woman’s neighbours had noticed anything throughout the day.

In another death on Monday, a 35-year-old Greek national from Crete was found in the Ayios Athanasios area in Limassol by a member of public at around 9.15pm. Examinations carried out at the scene by state pathologist Nicolas Charalambous again ruled out any foul play. The 35-year-old who was living with his parents in the area had reportedly been on medication and he appeared to have died from natural causes according to Charalambous. A post-mortem is due to be carried out on Wednesday to establish the exact cause of death, police said.

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A 77-year-old man, Michalis Kyriacou from Apliki village in the Nicosia district died on Tuesday hours after he was fatally injured following an accident on his tractor, police said.

On his way home at around 10am, with his vehicle loaded with wood, and under circumstances still being investigated, Kyriacou lost control of the tractor and the vehicle plunged into a two-metre ditch.

A doctor from Nicosia general hospital was called to the scene where he established Kyriacou’s death at around 1pm, police said.

A post-mortem is due to be carried out on Wednesday.

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THE government is working on a bill to define the modus operandi of the secret service KYP and to install checks on whether its surveillance methods are lawful, the justice minister said yesterday.

Ionas Nicolaou, who attended a House Institutions Committee discussion on the secret service, said article 17 of the constitution outlined when surveillance was permitted.

A 45-year-old police sergeant from the secret service is currently suspended and under criminal and disciplinary investigation following the discovery in his home of surveillance files, reportedly tracking high-ranking politicians.

“I want to reassure everyone there is no reason to worry about their personal data or private life,” Nicolaou said.

He said the government was determined KYP would stick to its mandate as laid out in article 17 of the constitution.

Article 17 states that “every person has the right to respect for, and to the secrecy of, his correspondence and other communication if such other communication is made through means not prohibited by law.” The article, which was amended in 2010, also outlines exceptions, including investigations into felons, serious crimes and corruption. The attorney-general may ask the court to issue a warrant enabling surveillance on the grounds that it could prevent or shed light into serious crime, or for national security.

“We believe KYP’s modus operandi needs to be institutionalised in such a way that the necessary checks can be allowed,” Nicolaou said. He added independent bodies whose remit includes the protection of human rights should be able to audit KYP’s surveillance methods.

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By Nemanja Bjedov
MARCOS Baghdatis was beateen 7-6(3)7-6(3) by fourth-seeded Russian Dmitry Tursunov in the opening round of the St. Petersburg Open yesterday afternoon.
Home favourite Tursunov needed just over two hours to overcome the 28-year-old Cypriot and will next face the winner of the match between Argentinean Horacio Zeballos and Konstantin Kravchuk of Russia in the second round, while World No.48 Baghdatis will now have a few days to recover ahead of another 250-series tournament, the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur.

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A WOMAN was killed yesterday in Nicosia after she was hit by a fuel truck driven by a 47-year-old man.

According to police, at around 6pm, in circumstances still under investigation, the woman pedestrian was fatally hit by the fuel truck at the juncture of Acropolis Avenue, Panayiotis Kaspi Street and October 28 Street in the capital.

At the time of going to press last night, police were unable to identify the woman’s age, origin or name. A police officer speaking to the Cyprus Mail did not rule out using forensic tests to identify the woman, believed to be of adult age.

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By Daniel Lovering
A British man who admitted planning to kidnap, torture and eat at least one child using a sound-proofed dungeon he built in his home in Massachusetts was sentenced to nearly 27 years in US prison on Tuesday.
Geoffrey Portway, 40, a British citizen, was sentenced by Judge Timothy Hillman at a US district court in Worcester after pleading guilty in May to charges related to child pornography and plotting a kidnapping and violent crime.
“The long and serious sentence … reflects the serious nature of the crimes that he committed, and the fact that these are not victimless crimes,” US Attorney Carmen Ortiz told reporters outside the courthouse. “We got there just in time, and I’m grateful for that.”
Last year, federal agents investigating crimes against children discovered the sound-proofed dungeon, a child-size homemade coffin, a steel cage, a steel-topped table, butcher kits and restraints in the basement of Portway’s Worcester residence, according to prosecutors.
They also found evidence of more than 4,500 exchanges of child pornography on his computer, they said.
Portway admitted in a plea agreement to having had online chats with numerous people about “a mutual interest in abducting, raping, murdering, and eating children,” prosecutors said. He also admitted trading child pornography.
The case was part of a larger federal investigation into a child pornography ring that began in Massachusetts in 2010 and expanded internationally. Some 60 people have been prosecuted and more than 160 children have been identified as victims and rescued, officials said.
At the sentencing hearing on Tuesday, Portway’s attorney, Richard Sweeney, said his client was “sick” and should be punished, but added that he had only “immersed himself in a world of fantasy on the internet” and never intended to carry out any plans to harm children.
Portway, wearing a brown prison uniform, glasses and white sneakers, did not speak during the sentencing.
He was sentenced to 320 months in prison, and will be deported to the UK after he completes his term. He was also ordered to pay $3,000 each to five unnamed victims whose images were found on his computer.

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Wayne Rooney scored twice to inspire Manchester United to a 4-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen in their Champions League Group A opener at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
The hosts opened their account in the 22nd minute with a Rooney volley and had several chances to stretch the lead before Leverkusen captain Simon Rolfes levelled after 54 minutes.
Van Persie re-established the three-times European champions’ lead five minutes later with an acrobatic volley and Rooney made amends for his earlier misses with a left-footed effort for his 200th United goal in all competitions.
Antonio Valencia made the winning margin more comprehensive with a goal after 79 minutes before Omer Toprak’s late strike for Leverkusen as United’s David Moyes enjoyed his first taste of managing in the Champions League group stage with a victory.
Manchester City meanwhile demonstrated their Champions League intent this season by crushing Viktoria Plzen 3-0 in their opening Group D game.
Edin Dzeko, Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero scored in a 10-minute period early in the second half against the Czech champions.
Dzeko put the English side ahead in the 48th minute, slotting home under keeper Matus Kozacik after Aguero’s pass.
Five minutes later Ivorian midfielder Toure produced the moment of the match, cutting inside and unleashing a magnificent swerving shot from 30 metres that flew into the net.
Aguero added the third with a left-footed shot from the edge of the area.

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Cristiano Ronaldo’s hat-trick for Real Madrid illuminated an opening night goals bonanza as the leading contenders began the Champions League group stage with a bang on Tuesday.

Thirty goals rained in around Europe with Real trouncing Galatasaray 6-1 in Istanbul, holders Bayern Munich winning 3-0 at home to CSKA Moscow and Manchester United putting four past Bayer Leverkusen at Old Trafford.

Paris St Germain fired a warning that they will be a real threat with a 4-1 victory away to Olympiakos Piraeus while Manchester City won 3-0 at Czech outsiders Viktoria Plzen.

Ronaldo’s reign as the world’s most expensive footballer ended this month when Real paid Tottenham Hotspur 100 million euros ($133.49 million) for Gareth Bale but he underlined his role as chief conductor of Los Blancos with a dazzling display.

Bale, who is still building up his match fitness after missing most of pre-season, had the honour of becoming the world’s most costly substitute until he joined the party in the second half, playing a part in Ronaldo’s second goal.

Midfielder Isco began Real’s rout while their France forward Karim Benzema scored twice in a satisfying evening for Real’s new coach Carlo Ancelotti who was treated to a feast of counter-attacking football by his expensively assembled side.

“Things couldn’t have started better for us. Scoring six goals is really good and will give us a lot of confidence,” Ronaldo, who performed a stunning silky dribble for his third goal in stoppage time, told reporters.

While Real, beginning their quest for a long-overdue 10th European crown, issued a powerful statement of intent, the strength of some of their rivals for the silverware would not have gone unnoticed by Ancelotti.

FIRST GOAL

Less than four months after Arjen Robben’s last-minute goal secured the trophy for Bayern Munich the Bundesliga giants registered the first goal of this season’s group stage after only four minutes courtesy of David Alaba’s powerful free kick.

Bayern Munich’s Mario Mandzukic (c) scores the second goal in Bayern’s 2-0 win over CSKA Moscow

Robben was on target again along with Mario Mandzukic as Bayern’s new coach Pep Guardiola’s saw his side ease to victory.

Guardiola, who twice conquered Europe during his glittering reign at Barcelona, said he was relieved to start another Champions League journey without any stumbles.

“I’m very satisfied with the performance,” he said. “The first game after winning the Champions League is never easy. Everyone always thinks it is, but it’s not.”

Ronaldo’s former Manchester United team mate Wayne Rooney scored twice in the English champions’ 4-2 victory over Bayer Leverkusen as the Old Trafford club began their first European venture without Alex Ferguson at the helm since 1985.

Ferguson, who twice steered United to Champions League success, watched as Rooney’s double and goals from Robin Van Persie and Antonio Valencia gave new boss David Moyes a pleasing, if sometimes anxious, first taste of the group stage.

“I said several months ago Wayne Rooney could join the real greats with his goalscoring. He could have got a hat-trick tonight,” Moyes said of the England striker whose double took him to 200 goals for United.

“Robin van Persie’s goal was also great. If we can get those two scoring, they can be formidable for us.”

BETTER OMENS

Striker Edinson Cavani justified Paris St Germain’s faith in signing him from Napoli with the opening goal in their Group C victory over Olympiakos in Greece, although he played second fiddle to Italian midfielder Thiago Motta who scored twice.

The Parisians could even afford a late missed penalty by Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The omens look better for Manchester City after the disappointment of group stage exits in the previous two seasons despite the hundreds of millions spent assembling their squad.

Wily Chilean coach Manuel Pelligrini was recruited with a mission to improve City’s form in Europe and goals from Edin Dzeko, Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero provided a launchpad for the challenges ahead, which include facing Bayern.

“Winning away in the Champions League is very important,” said Pellgrini who took Malaga to the quarter-finals last season. “Those three points might be very important in getting to the next round.”

Twice former European Cup winners Benfica enjoyed a 2-0 victory over Anderlecht but not all the European aristocrats had things their own way with Juventus being held to a 1-1 draw in Denmark against FC Copenhagen.

Real Sociedad’s return to the Champions League group stage for the first time since 2003-04 also went flat as Shakhtar Donetsk returned from Spain with a 2-0 victory in Group A.

Group A
Manchester United 4 Bayer Leverkusen 2
Real Sociedad 0 Shakhtar Donetsk 2

Standings P W D L F A Pts
Manchester United 1 1 0 0 4 2 3
Shakhtar Donetsk 1 1 0 0 2 0 3
Bayer Leverkusen 1 0 0 1 2 4 0
Real Sociedad 1 0 0 1 0 2 0
- -
Group B
Galatasaray 1 Real Madrid 6
FC Copenhagen 1 Juventus 1
Standings P W D L F A Pts
Real Madrid 1 1 0 0 6 1 3
Juventus 1 0 1 0 1 1 1
FC Copenhagen 1 0 1 0 1 1 1
Galatasaray 1 0 0 1 1 6 0
- -
Group C
Benfica 2 Anderlecht 0
Olympiakos Piraeus 1 Paris St Germain 4

Standings P W D L F A Pts
Paris St Germain 1 1 0 0 4 1 3
Benfica 1 1 0 0 2 0 3
Anderlecht 1 0 0 1 0 2 0
Olympiakos Piraeus 1 0 0 1 1 4 0
- -
Group D
Bayern Munich 3 CSKA Moscow 0
Viktoria Plzen 0 Manchester City 3

Standings P W D L F A Pts
Bayern Munich 1 1 0 0 3 0 3
Manchester City 1 1 0 0 3 0 3
Viktoria Plzen 1 0 0 1 0 3 0
CSKA Moscow 1 0 0 1 0 3 0

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By Poly Pantelides

THE government is looking to introduce deputy ministers to create niches within ministries related to shipping, development, and the European Union, lawmakers were told yesterday.

Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou presented a bill, tabled on behalf of the government to the House Finance Committee. The thought is to appoint up to six deputy ministers.

The deputy ministers would be working with “productive” departments on the rationale their appointment would further increase output, the justice minister said.

Nicolaou said the costs would be accounted via the savings made when top state officials reduced their salary.

When the government accepted a tough EU/IMF bailout in March to avoid bankruptcy, the President said he would be taking a 25 per cent wage cut and his Cabinet, a 20 per cent wage reduction.

“The President announced at the time that those savings would be taken advantage of to appoint deputy ministers,” Nicolaou said.

He added it was the government’s belief the appointments were necessary to help the state machine deal with challenges efficiently, and modernise government.

Deputy ministers could be appointed to deal with the sectors of commercial shipping, development, and the European Union, and would work within the existing civil service structure and infrastructure, Nicolaou said.

They would answer directly to the relevant minister who would decide on their remit, but they would not participate in Cabinet meetings, Nicolaou said, adding the model under consideration was deemed to be constitutional by the previous attorney-general.

The government which was elected in February, has already hired a deputy spokesman, created the office for the Commissioner for public sector reform, an office for the commissioner for volunteering and non-governmental organisations, and has revived the post of Presidential Commissioner responsible for overseas Cypriots and religious groups. The government has insisted that the new posts do not place a burden on state expenditures.

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By George Psyllides

FINANCE Minister Harris Georgiades said yesterday that all capital controls would be lifted in the first months of 2014 except in the case of transferring money abroad.

Cyprus agreed on a road map for lifting restrictions although no exact timeframe had been set.

“Converting the roadmap into a timeframe brings us to the first months of the new year,” Georgiades said.

He added that it concerned all restrictions bar one, “the most sensitive, which is cross-border flow of capital.”

The finance minister voiced optimism that Cyprus would not go down the same path as Iceland when it came to lifting restrictions.

“Maybe I am very optimistic but I think our experience so far shows that we are following a course that is different from that of Iceland,” he said.

Iceland introduced “temporary” controls following the collapse of its banking system. The measures remain in place today around five years later.

Cyprus introduced capital controls in March to prevent a bank run as uninsured deposits were seized to recapitalise stricken lenders.

It was the first time in the history of the eurozone that restrictions in the movement of money were imposed.

The minister conceded that it was difficult to lift such restrictions from the moment they were introduced, but Cyprus has gradually relaxed controls and bank transactions were being carried out without any problems.

“I am more worried about the negative climate created by maintaining these restrictions instead of their real effects,” Georgiades said.

President Nicos Anastasiades meanwhile said the plan was to lift capital controls by January, as he pledged that Cyprus would be the best at implementing a bailout agreement with international lenders

“The goal right now is to create the conditions for growth and tackle the serious problem of unemployment, to stabilise the financial system,” Anastasiades said in an interview with Bloomberg. “The controls are being lifted. They will end within a timeframe of January 2014.”

The president said Cyprus will be “the best” at implementing the agreement with the EU and the IMF.

“What’s important too and a good sign is the behaviour of Cypriots, a responsible stance, without reactions, without strikes, labour peace,” he told Bloomberg. “I believe that sooner than expected we will again be in a position to go to the markets, but also to create encouraging prospects for the country.”

The EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this week released the second tranche of the €10 billion bailout.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the country had made “commendable” progress in stabilizing its finances but warned against fiscal slippage.

“Risks to the programme remain substantial, leaving no room for implementation slippages,” Lagarde said in a statement. “Continued strong ownership, including steadfast policy implementation, is critical for the programme’s success.”

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By Poly Pantelides

TRADE union PEO renewed calls yesterday to have a decree on extended shop opening hours revoked – or at least not renewed – arguing that the shops were taking advantage of employees forcing them to work longer hours for the same pay.

PEO’s general secretary Pambis Kyritsis said that workers had been complaining anonymously because they feared for their jobs. He added that kiosk owners and small shopkeepers had been warning they were being driven out of business because consumers were starting to favour bigger shops that could afford to stay open longer.

“This is not an impression formed from official data and facts but we are the recipients of workers’ reactions and of people working in retail in general,” he said.

“The situation must soon be clarified on what will happen. A decree can’t be issued in this way by the [labour] minister,” Kyritsis added.

The labour ministry issued a decree in early July allowing shops outside tourist areas to remain open until later on weekdays and also on Sunday. Shops must cover at least half of the extra covering hours by hiring unemployed people registered with the labour ministry’s flexible unemployment scheme, whose wage will be 65 per cent covered by the ministry for eight months.

The decree is due to expire in less than a month, on October 13. Big retailers have formed a new association to lobby for the opening hours to remain as is. The association represents big interests of the like of Jumbo, McDonald’s, Carrefour, My Mall and Alpha Mega supermarkets.

They argue that consumers and the unemployed are benefiting from the scheme. Small shopkeepers union POVEK is trying to get the decree revoked in the Supreme Court. The union has been vocal against the decree, which it says only benefits the bigger shops.

Marios Tsiakkis, the general secretary of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which has been a long-time advocate of longer opening hours, said they needed to wait and see what the Supreme Court said.

But he added that so far, an estimated 800 people had been hired through the scheme, which they understood to have “positive results”. The labour ministry placed the estimates at a more conservative 466 people during a news conference two weeks ago.

The ministry has so far been noncommittal on whether the decree would be renewed with minister Zeta Emilianidou saying they would consider all available data before making any decisions.

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THE NICOSIA Water Board’s open-air museum was officially inaugurated by President Nicos Anastasiades last night.

The museum walks the public through the various ways people would get their supply of water from buckets and wells to old concrete taps and finally to running water in homes. The museum is situated next to the Nicosia Water Board’s main building on Athalassa Avenue.

“Every time an organisation creates something that will benefit everyone and promotes the efforts and achievements of our society, the state expresses it’s gratitude towards them,” said Anastasiades.

He described the museum as a true symbol of the Nicosia Water Board.

“The museum shows our traditions with water and it is a beautiful place that tells the story of water supply, showing the various ways that we have dealt with water shortages over the years,” he added.

“Water is the most vital natural resource needed by society and the economy to survive and develop anywhere. As it is displayed by the museum, water conservation is crucial for survival especially in a country that has long periods of drought,” the President said.

Anastasiades added that with the limited water supply on the island and with demand rising, it was a subject that was a priority for the government.

The Nicosia Water Board is celebrating 60 years since its establishment and its head Nikos Zambakides, explained how greater accessibility to water has transformed the island.

He said that for thousands of years the people of Cyprus had to deal with the lack of water, leading them to create primitive ways to collect and save water.

“My mind goes back to wells, basins, windmills and everything else that was used to find and save water so life could exist,” he said.

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CYPRUS is “on track” with reforms to shore up its economy, the IMF said yesterday, but noted downside risks lurked from the yet-unclear impact of a banking sector overhaul.

IMF Mission Chief for Cyprus Delia Velculescu said Cyprus has made “good progress” in meeting fiscal targets but warned that continuing uncertainty surrounding the bailout programme and banking sector made public sector reforms, improved tax collection and privatisations imperative.

“Risks to the programme remain substantial, given the uncertain impact of the crisis, the still-recovering banking system and ongoing challenges to policy implementation,” said the IMF staff report.

In a report released yesterday, the IMF said: “Consumer confidence remains at historically low levels, while labour market conditions are gradually worsening and weighing on private consumption.”

In its first review of the bailout programme for the island, the International Monetary Fund said Cyprus had shown a better fiscal performance than anticipated, and kept fiscal forecasts the same, though revised upwards unemployment projections for this year and the next.

It expected the island’s economy to contract by “about” 9 per cent this year and 4 per cent in 2014 before returning to mild growth in 2015.

“Risks remain substantial and tilted to the downside,” the IMF said, adding that risk included the banking crisis having a larger-than-anticipated impact on households and corporate.

“These could result in a deeper and more prolonged recession, as well as in weaker long-run growth, with dramatic consequences for debt sustainability.”

At the same time, the IMF notes that only about a third of losses incurred as a result of the ‘bail-in’ of the island’s two biggest banks are estimated to have affected local residents.

In parallel with the release of the IMF report, the European Commission prepared its own report on the Cyprus programme.

An EU official, who briefed reporters on the separate report, was quoted yesterday by the Wall Street Journal saying that the Cypriot government’s efforts to stick to the bailout programme did not necessarily provide a reason to rejoice.

“When I say it’s positive news, I mean it’s not worse than expected,”

The Commission’s review said bank credit was expected to keep shrinking, but that this was a “necessary adjustment of the previous excessive credit expansions”.

The Brussels institution said putting the Cypriot banking sector on a solid footing again had taken “more time than initially foreseen due to the complexity of the situation”

It also acknowledged that lending to small and medium-sized enterprises and households has virtually come to a standstill, noting that “almost all businesses in Cyprus are SMEs”.

According to the IMF, corporate lending dropped by 9 per cent year on year in June, while mortgage lending fell by 3 per cent and consumer loans 7 per cent.

Despite the imposition in March of capital controls on banks- a first for the eurozone- net outflows reached around €8 billion by August 21, said the IMF, counting for 12.6 per cent of deposits, or nearly half the country’s GDP.

Velculescu said: “The largest challenge for the banks is to deal with deteriorating asset quality. The key here will be to develop plans to ensure that all banks achieve a return of confidence and a return to profitability.”

Public hostility to the bailout programme was also waning, said the IMF, which is providing $1.3 billion of the bailout money to the Mediterranean nation.

It said however that authorities needed to stay vigilant because challenges such as rising unemployment and worsening social conditions could test its resolve. The IMF revised original unemployment projections upwards, noting that 17 per cent of the Cypriot workforce would be out of a job this year, up from an original projection of 15.5 per cent.

A bleak view of the job market is held for 2014 also, with unemployment expected to reach 19.5 per cent next year, rising from the 16.9 per cent previously estimated.

Structural reforms and privatisations planned for the coming years required political will in the face of strong vested interests, the IMF said.

The Eurogroup approved the disbursement of €1.5 billion from the bailout to Cyprus last week, while the IMF released its contribution of €84.7 million on Monday.

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By Peter Stevenson

THE Dutch government handed over four icons looted from a monastery in northern Cyprus to the island’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Kyriacos Kouros, in a ceremony yesterday in The Hague.

The 16th-century icons portraying the four apostles, valued at about €150,000, were taken from the medieval Antiphonitis monastery in 1975. Legal efforts by the Church of Cyprus to recover the icons failed in 2002 after a seven-year legal battle but a change in Dutch law in 2007 allowed the government to finally lay claim to the artworks.

“We have heard that the icons will be delivered to Cypriot authorities within 48 hours,” Tasoula Hadjitofi, the founder of Walk of Truth, an organisation that campaigns to preserve cultural heritage told delegates at a September 16 conference in The Hague. “The Netherlands should be congratulated for this.”

The Cypriot government says that as many as 100 Greek Orthodox and Armenian churches in northern Cyprus were looted or vandalised after the 1974 Turkish invasion. It estimates that more than 15,000 icons are missing. Some objects have been recovered in Western Europe and the United States.

The four looted icons of the saints were reportedly purchased by an elderly Dutch couple from an Armenian dealer who visited their Rotterdam home. When the couple tried to auction the icons in the 1990s, employees of Christie’s International warned that they may be stolen. A court case to recover them began in 1995.

A district court ruled that the Dutch purchaser bought the icons in good faith and was therefore the rightful owner. The Court of Appeals found that the claim was time-barred under statutes of limitations in 2002, according to Rob Polak, the Amsterdam-based lawyer who represented the Church of Cyprus in the legal process.

Questions about the ruling were raised in the Dutch parliament, and in 2007, the Cultural Property Originating From Occupied Territories Act was passed.

The law bans the import and ownership of cultural property originating from a territory that was occupied in an armed conflict after 1959, and allows the Minister of Education, Culture and Science to seize any such property. In cases where the owner is deemed to be a good-faith buyer, he may receive compensation from the Dutch state, according to Bloomberg.

“The Netherlands tested its laws, found they were at fault, and fixed them,” said Hadjitofi, who devoted herself to recovering looted art after a Dutch dealer approached her offering to sell stolen Cypriot artefacts. “Maybe other countries such as Germany could learn from this.”

Over 170 religious artefacts including icons, murals and mosaics from the stolen collection of Turkish looter Aydin Dikmen were returned to the Republic of Cyprus in a special ceremony in Munich in July.

“The artworks are no longer needed as evidence and now they can return ‘home’,” German Justice Minister Beate Merk said in a statement at the time, adding “Cultural treasures are of immense importance for every nation”.

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FORMER Interior Minister Dinos Michaelides will remain detained in Greece until authorities there come to a decision regarding the graft case against former Greek defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos it was announced yesterday.

Michaelides was in court in Athens yesterday to answer the prosecution’s question regarding alleged kickbacks he received in the purchase by Greece of Russian TOR-M1 surface-to-air missile systems.

He pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges against him brought by Greek authorities as part of the case involving Tsohatzopoulos.

His cross examination began at around 3pm and finished at around 8pm with the court decision to keep him detained being made just after 9pm.

He is implicated in a case involving a total of €40 million in kickbacks.

Michaelides is accused of receiving 5.7 million Swiss Franks

The former minister was taken to court in a police jeeps and was escorted to the prosecutor’s office from a back door by three uniformed police officers.

Greek prosecutors allege Tsohatzopoulos siphoned funds overseas. They say one of his co-defendants has alleged that Michaelides helped Tsohatzopoulos set up bank accounts, and that they want to question the former Cypriot minister about that.

Michaelides is the first Cypriot government or former government official to be extradited to Greece.

The Supreme Court ordered the extradition of his son Michalis on Tuesday, in connection with the same case.

He will remain in custody until his extradition that must take place within 10 days.

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HAVING run out of issues to fuel their self-righteous rage, deputies have decided to resume their campaigns against the privatisation of semi-government organisations. Although it is a remarkably meaningless exercise, because privatisation is stipulated in the MoU Cyprus has signed, the politicians are still banking on winning votes from employees of these organisations for their brave resistance to the troika.

It is the same thinking that was behind the decision of AKEL and EDEK to vote against the co-op bills a couple of weeks ago. They had cleverly calculated that the other, more responsible, parties would vote the bills through while they could pose as the brave defenders of the co-op movement. But when the bills were defeated and the immediate collapse of the co-ops was looming they put aside their objections and approved the bills.

This irresponsible approach is now being pursued for the SGOs. The raising of money through their privatisation – a minimum of €1.4 billion is stipulated – is a condition of the MoU agreed by the Christofias government and signed by the Anastasiades government. So how would it be avoided? None of the campaigners have made any suggestion. Only yesterday, in a review by the troika fears were expressed that privatisations, which are considered a given, would not raise the €1.4bn

The communists of AKEL have been leading the chorus of disapproval by resort to the usual mix of lies and half-truths. Its official, Christos Christofides said: “We disagreed (to the rushed sale of SGOs), we will continue to disagree and would give a fight to protect the profitable national wealth, which belongs, at the end of the day, to all the Cypriot people.”

If AKEL disagreed why did Christofias agree to the inclusion of privatisations in the first draft of the MoU? And is the national wealth profitable? The EAC is a loss-making monopoly that charges the highest electricity rates in the EU. CyTA remains profitable but its surpluses have been declining every year because of competition, while the Ports Authority is a monopoly that is profitable because it charges extortionate fees to its customers. In fact the EAC and Ports Authority monopolies make a big contribution to the ever-increasing cost of living in Cyprus because their rip-off charges are passed on to the consumer.

Perhaps Christofides could tell us one way in which the Cypriot people have benefited from owning these inefficient, wasteful, mismanaged and abusive monopolies. The SGOs have benefited their employees whom they pay unjustifiably high wages, allowances and pensions and the political parties which use them for a range of corrupt practices. The rest of us, the overwhelming majority of the population, have not only gained nothing, but we have been paying rip-off prices to ensure the dubious profitability of our so-called national wealth.

Enough of this costly profitability – sell these state monopolies off now for the good of the population.

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Where do you live?
In Aglantzia, Nicosia

Best childhood memory?
A trip I had to Malta when I was 12 with my parents. We were filming/shooting the landscapes, the small towns and the monuments. I loved it because it is a very graphic, with a character of its own, a little island in the Mediterranean sea.

Most frequented restaurant and absolute favourite dish? What food would you really turn your nose up to?
Havana bar and restaurant in Nicosia. I like it for no specific reason other than it’s mine and my friends “summer spot”. My absolute favorite food is ‘Makaronia tu fournou’ and the food I would really turn my nose up to are peas and any kind of liver.

What did you have for breakfast?
Nothing. Too busy!

Would you class yourself as a day or night person? What’s your idea of the perfect night/day out?
Night person. My ideal night out would be taking pictures of Cavo Greco at sunset and twilight and then when night comes have a great swim in a beach at Ayia Napa.

Best book ever read?
What did you do in Volos little Costas? It’s a Greek teenage book that I really like and that unfortunately right now I can’t remember the author’s name.

Favourite film of all time?
Dark Knight-Batman 2 with the legendary Heath Ledger and Christian Bale!

Favourite holiday destination (or best holiday ever taken)? What’s your dream trip?
Akamas for camping. But my dream trip would be in Los Angeles for one reason: Is it really how we see it in the movies?!

What music are you listening to in the car at the moment?
I always listen to Kiss fm radio here in Cyprus because I like the music they put “from the ‘80s to today”.

What is always in your fridge?
Chocolates. A lot of chocolates!

Dream house: rural retreat or urban dwelling? Where would it be, what would it be like?
Rural retreat for sure! It would be in Stroumpi (village in Paphos district) and it would be a three-floor house with a big swimming pool AND an immense orchard .

If you could pick anyone at all (alive or dead) to go out for the evening with, who would it be?
Ayton Senna (F1 champion) because he is my hero!

If the world is ending in 24 hours what would you do?
I would take a lot of pictures of the twilight, dawn and sunset. Haha.

What is your greatest fear?
Heights

Tell me a joke…
A man that has a pair of LEFT legs goes in a shop and asks for some flip-flips!

5th Cypriot Directors Film Festival-Under the Stars
Organised by The Directors Guild Cyprus in collaboration with CyBC. Supported by the Ministry of Education and Culture. September 12 – 15 at the Constantia Open Air Cinema, Nicosia 8:30pm and September 13-16 at the Derynia Folk Art Museum, Derynia, 8:30pm. Entrance to all screenings is free. directorsguildcy@gmail.com, Tel: 99 694407or 99 629257

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George Christou

President Nicos Anastasiades said he was looking into going to the Supreme Court to get rid of the Central Bank (CBC) governor whom he accused of being inadequate and spending more time abroad than doing his job in Cyprus.

Speaking on private Mega television on Wednesday night, Anastasiades said he was putting together evidence showing Panicos Demetriades’ weakness or lack of competence.

“I am investigating and documenting all the things that make up the weakness or the inadequacy in the performance of his duties and accordingly, in line with the constitution, I will decide the prospect of referral to the highest legal council,” Anastasiades said.

Relations between the president and Demetriades have been strained, but took a turn for the worse in the last week, as a result of the latter’s delay in approving the new directors of the Bank of Cyprus who were elected at the AGM of September 10.

The Governor has come under criticism also from the political parties and business organisations for his prevarication over the evaluation of the new directors.

The Central Bank had still not completed the ‘fitness and probity’ evaluation of six directors, even though as a member of the resolution authority it had given its approval to all of them.
Anastasiades said he was running out of patience with Demetriades.

“This cannot go on,” the president said.

Responding to the interviewer’s suggestion that Demetriades may have been giving a demonstration of his powers, the president said bluntly: “The economy’s and the country’s needs will not depend on the whims of anyone. We are not student organisations that play games.”
“The Governor should have evaluated all of the candidates who had put forward their names to be members of the board ahead of the AGM. Despite having promised the resolution authority that this would happen before the AGM, I established that on the day of the AGM he (Demetriades) was not ready yet.”

Anastasiades was so concerned that he called Demetriades and “advised him to be careful because we had already suffered a number of delays and it would be unthinkable that any of those elected to the board of directors would depend on what he decided.”

He added: “I told him you will cause an uproar and more uncertainty and instability within a bank which is expecting to have a new board of directors. Ten days on and there is still no final decision regarding the board of directors.”

He also had a dig at Demetriades tendency to spend much of his time abroad.

“Someone who holds such an important position will not be allowed to spend such long periods abroad instead of carrying out his duties,” he said.
The CBC responded late on Wednesday night, accusing Anastasiades of trying to undermine the independence of the governor.

The regulator rejected the claim that Demetriades was abroad all the time and did not do his job.

The governor’s frequent presence at the European decision-making centres, especially Frankfurt, did not include holidays, a CBC statement said, but was necessary in a bid to influence decisions in favour of Cyprus.

The regulator added that the evaluation of the members of the newly-elected board was being carried out carefully, based on the criteria set by the European Banking Authority “to protect the credibility of the BoC and avoid past mistakes.”

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By Hugh Pope

ISRAEL IS quietly challenging Turkey and Cyprus to make a choice: move together to develop Israel’s share of the East Mediterranean’s natural gas riches, or stay on the sidelines and perpetuate their decades-old stalemate over Cyprus.
Israel has stated its preference for export pipelines to both Turkey and Cyprus, and is in a strong position to elicit both countries’ cooperation. Only Israel has big proven reserves, while test drillings are still trying to establish whether Cyprus has major exportable quantities. Both fields are being developed by the same US and Israeli operating companies, who will make the main export decisions – subject, in the case of Israeli gas, to Israeli government permission.
Israel’s strategy has steadily come into focus this year. In January, a top Israeli energy bureaucrat strongly hinted that Turkey is the natural anchor market for the gas. In June, the government committed to significant gas exports and said it could supply a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant outside Israel, with Cyprus the only likely host.
Then, last week, Israel’s energy envoy, Michael Lotem, put the pieces together. “An energy facility [to liquefy some Israeli gas exports in Cyprus] has less complications than other options”, he told energy executives at a conference in Paphos. This lent some support to the Greek Cypriots’ cherished goal: a big, expensive LNG plant that could be a regional gas hub. But, Lotem added, “there is also a clear tendency not to put [all Israel’s eggs in one basket] … positively, to have more than one energy destination”.
That extra destination, Israeli officials and Turkish company representatives explained, is a pipeline that one or more Turkish companies are now vying to build from Israel’s Leviathan gas field discovery to the Turkish coast. From there Israeli gas could feed into Turkey’s national grid, or join the Trans-Anatolia Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) that Azerbaijan and others plan to build across Turkey, or even link up directly to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) that European and Azerbaijani oil companies plan to build from Turkey’s Greek border, across the Balkans, and on to Europe.
The offer looks elegant. The pipelines sidestep many of the chronic problems between Cyprus and Turkey by simply forking on the seabed. A shorter western arm would go to Cyprus, and a longer northern arm would go to Turkey. One Israeli official suggested 4-5 billion cubic metres of gas goes to Cyprus as soon as possible, and some 8-10 billion cubic metres a year goes to Turkey when that pipeline is financed and built.
There is a hitch, of course. The pipeline to Turkey would have to go through the internationally recognised Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Cyprus. Theoretically, under the UN Law of the Sea, a pipeline builder does not need formal permission to build through an EEZ. In practice, to do so without permission would be unthinkable (although some voices from Turkey, counter-productively, threaten just that).
The Israeli plan would certainly help the atmospherics of the Cyprus problem. The two sides have failed to negotiate almost any confidence-building measure for years. While some Turkish and Greek Cypriot officials and businessmen would welcome an Israeli-prompted breakthrough, that outcome is far from certain. Cypriot officials rule out any possibility of allowing a pipeline to Turkey through their EEZ, at least before a settlement of the Cyprus dispute, for which a new round of talks is expected to start in October. And there is no sign yet that Turkey’s mercurial, anti-Israel prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, would approve a pipeline that might help Israel.
Yet Turkey will obviously lose out if Israeli gas goes elsewhere. And if Cyprus does not allow the pipeline to pass through its EEZ to Turkey, Israeli officials say Israeli gas will probably not go to the Cypriot LNG plant either. Israel is making clear it doesn’t want to be pulled onto one side or the other of the frozen Turkey-Cyprus conflict.
“What [feels] good in the short run may have a high price in the long run,” Ambassador Lotem told the Paphos conference, adding that gas exports should be used to bind Israel, Turkey and Cyprus closer for regional peace. Continuing with the old zero-sum calculus, he warned, could leave “zero for some”.
This dilemma is particularly acute for the pragmatic Greek Cypriot leadership elected in February. Greek Cypriot media and nationalist politicians are notoriously reluctant to allow Turkey any advantage. In the bitter politics of the Cyprus dispute, both parties have long chosen to punish the other on questions of nationalist principle, even at great cost to themselves.
Yet without Israeli gas, the economics of any Cypriot LNG plant would be in grave doubt, at least until exploitation of Cyprus’ own natural gas fields proves to be economic. Cyprus can’t afford the wait. After bad Greek debts and mismanagement crushed its banking system and economy in March 2013, and with most shops on its capital’s main fancy shopping street dusty and shuttered, Cyprus desperately needs a positive story, economic growth and cash to repay the emergency funds with which the European Union bailed it out.
With a choice this tough, and with their inexperience in energy development decisions becoming more evident by the month, Cypriot officials may simply delay. But there’s another reason Cyprus doesn’t have long to dither: the Israelis want an answer by early next year, and are already looking at other, admittedly less easy, options, like an LNG plant of their own, even one moored out at sea.
If this happens, Israel’s natural-gas export route may prove yet another lost opportunity for Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots and Turkey to find a way out of their labyrinth.

Hugh Pope is director of the Turkey/Cyprus Project at the International Crisis Group

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By Loucas Charalambous
MANY accuse President Anastasiades of being an improviser in his political behaviour and not pursuing any major objective. It is said that he tries to hide his weakness or unwillingness to be productive, practical and effective by continuously resorting to communications ploys that are not only transparent but leave him exposed.
Put simply, the accusation is that Anastasiades is more interested in being popular (why, I wonder) instead of pursuing the difficult and brave decisions that are necessary for Cyprus to overcome the many assorted impasses it has been led to, mainly by its politicians.
It appears that he, without realising it, is striving to prove correct everyone who has this view. He is constantly giving examples of this weakness. Here are two examples.
On September 13, he gave a news conference at which he presented “an action plan for the reform of the public service”. He assured us that in three years we will have an impeccable state service unrecognisable from that we have had to put up with for decades.
I wonder how many people Anastasiades has convinced. I suspect nobody has bought this. To claim that you will modernise the public service of Cyprus is akin to saying that you will cure a leper or change the colour of a person’s skin by soaping it. It is not ‘reform’ that the public service is in need of. It needs, as I have written on many occasions, to be completely dismantled.
As many services as possible should be given to the private sector to run. The state should keep only those services which could not be done by private companies, plus the responsibility of monitoring and supervising the work done by the private sector.
Something along these lines is already being done by the Land Surveys Department, which contracts out many jobs (surveying, setting of boundaries, etc) to private individuals, with officials restricting themselves to a monitoring role and the issuing of permits. Generally speaking, it is ridiculous for citizens to wait for years for tasks to be completed by the state services when they could be done in no time by the private sector. But would Anastasiades dare move in this direction?
An even more striking example of the president’s quest for popularity is his handling of the Cyprus problem. How else but as a communications ploy, could the appointment of Amabassador Andreas Mavroyiannis as negotiator be viewed? Is it possible to appoint as our representative in negotiations for a settlement, a man who, responding to a question on whether a solution to the problem would help us get out of the recession, says “no, quite the opposite.”
Does Anastasiades think he can solve the Cyprus problem with a negotiator who states publicly that a solution would harm us economically, even now that we are in a state of bankruptcy? This appointment was also a tactical ploy in order to keep happy his government partner Marios Garoyian.
It would seem that even Anastasiades is no longer interested in a settlement. He is now even using the slogans of DIKO and the other hard-liners. “We will not agree to talks without adequate preparation,” he states, almost on a daily basis. He is beginning to sound like the late Spyros Kyprianou and Tassos Papadopoulos.
After 36 years of negotiations, Anastasiades is still seeking firmer preparation for talks. But the Cyprus problem, given the point it is at, could be solved in 15 days if the will for a settlement exists. If the will does not exist it will not be solved even after a hundred years of “good preparation”. In short, this is also a tactical ploy, aimed at keeping Garoyian and other opponents of a settlement happy.
The paradox is that Anastasiades thinks that these tactical ploys and improvisation will help his political career. He is not in the position to understand that in reality they will destroy it.

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