OMAR Hamad, a former cyclist for the Syrian national team, is using his talent and initiative to raise money in Cyprus for war-torn Syria.

Hamad is planning to cycle around the island in six days, covering 527 km, in a sponsored bike ride to raise money to provide food and basic medical needs for those in need in Syria. Even though he has been out of the cycling world for 20 years now, he was motivated to revive his dormant talent and use it for a good cause after witnessing the daily devastation in his home country and the effect it has had on his friends, family and community in Damascus. 

“For me, the troubles in Syria are devastating. Although I have spent my entire adult life living and growing up in Cyprus, Damascus is my home town and part of my heart,” Hamad explains.

“The people I grew up with, my family, my school friends, the people in my village community have all reached out to me about the despair facing everyday families just like you and me.” 

The bike ride, scheduled to start on November 15 and take six days, begins and ends in Paralimni and travels through Nicosia, Paphos, Limassol and Larnaca, with Cartridge World branches in each city as checkpoints. People can sponsor Omar Hamad through Paypal or by visiting any Cartridge World branch in Cyprus and making a donation in the designated donation boxes. There will also be a 25 per cent discount at each Cartridge World branch within an hour of Omar’s arrival and departure from it, for all customers arriving to show their support. 

“The money will go towards providing food and medical supplies to small communities and areas in Damascus, through organisations set up by hospitals, mosques, churches and town halls that provide help for those in need in their neighbourhoods,” Hamad said.

For a more detailed overview of Omar’s journey and to make a donation through Paypal, visit http://cycle4syria.webs.com/info. 

ONE OF Europe’s largest digital archives is calling on Cypriots to contribute to an ambitious project that collects and digitises personal memorabilia and stories from the First World War. 

‘Europeana 1914-1918’ is a project that aims to create a pan-European virtual library of WWI memorabilia to mark the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War in two years’ time. 

“This project directly appeals to the person. It brings cultural history to life … and allows the public to engage with human histories from different parts of Europe, and even from opposing sides of the war,” Jill Cousins, the executive director of Europeana, told a press conference in Limassol this week.

Originally a University of Oxford initiative, it has since developed into a collaboration between the university, Europeana - Europe’s digital library, museum and archive - and a number of other cultural heritage associations, in a joint effort to collect and preserve stories, pictures and keepsakes from this significant period in European history and make them available to the wider public.

The huge success of the project in Germany has encouraged Europeana to visit more European countries, including Cyprus, to expand its collection. Europeana boasts a rich resource of digital material, with some 22 million objects in its digital library, 19,898 of which are related to Cyprus, even though only 179 actually come from Cyprus itself. The ‘Europeana 1914-1918’ project has so far collected 45,000 photographs, objects, letters and diaries from WW1, including a postcard written by Adolf Hitler while he was recovering from a war injury in Munich during WWI.

The initiative focuses on the human aspect of the war and aims to shed light on personal histories, acts of bravery, the horror of war, and objects that may otherwise never be brought to the surface. 

According to Dimitris Nikolaou, acting director of the Cyprus Library, Cypriots who volunteered during the First World War made up 6 per cent of the country’s population at the time. Cypriot volunteers enlisted in the British Army to serve as muleteers (carrying provisions and arms to the war front on mules), the majority of which were stationed on the Macedonian front. 

Currently, the only object in the WWI archive that has a direct link with Cyprus is a prosthetic leg, which is normally exhibited at the Science Museum in London. The prosthetic leg belonged to a Cypriot driver who volunteered for the British Army during WW1, lost half of his leg in battle, received a prosthesis and returned to the war to serve again. Such examples provide valuable information on how the war affected Cyprus and its volunteers and bring to light important material that can be used for research and education, said Nikolaou.

Europeana 1914-1918 is teaming up with the Cultural Services of the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Cyprus Library to hold a roadshow in Cyprus on December 1 and 2.

Members of the public are invited to attend the event at 27 Ifigeneias Street in Strovolos, Nicosia from 10am – 5.30pm and bring any WWI memorabilia they may have: pictures, stories, or objects from the war.  

The memorabilia will be evaluated by experts present at the roadshow, digitised, incorporated into the project’s digital archive and returned to their owners on the same day. Independently of the roadshow, the public can also personally add their stories and objects to the collection by visiting http://www.europeana1914-1918.eu/en/contributor. To explore the ‘Europeana 1914-1918’ digital archive and find out more about the project, visit http://www.europeana1914-1918.eu/en.

EVROKO’S CENTRAL committee decided yesterday to go with a conscience vote in next February’s presidential elections. After much debate over whether to support DIKO-backed DISY leader Nicos Anastasiades or EDEK-backed Giorgos Lillikas in the next elections, the central committee voted overwhelmingly in favour of adopting the executive office’s proposal to vote by conscience, with 75 per cent for and 25 per cent against.

The other three candidates for the presidential elections are AKEL-backed Stavros Malas and independents Makaria-Andri Stylianou and Solon Gregoriou. 

THE 44-year-old suspect in the Petra tou Romiou murder in Paphos was remanded in custody for eight days by the Paphos district court yesterday in relation to charges of premeditated murder, armed robbery, possession and transport of a gun and explosive material.  

The authorities arrested the 44-year-old man from Polis Chrysochous on Friday evening in relation to the murder of a 67-year-old jeweller from Larnaca last Wednesday.

Police searched the suspect’s properties, confiscating as evidence three hunting rifles and a Flobert gun believed to be the murder weapon. 

Michalakis Demetriou was found dead near Petra tou Romiou with gun shots to the head and chest. Police said €17,000 that Demetriou was meant to have on him to purchase jewellery was also missing.  

Acting head of Paphos CID Michalis Ioannou said in court yesterday that the victim’s son told police his father had spoken with a man before leaving Larnaca whose first name matched that of the suspect. 

Investigators also secured statements saying the victim was a distant relative of the suspect who had commercial transactions with Demetriou in the past for the purchase of jewellery. 

The suspect’s name was found in Demetriou’s notebook, along with his ID number and the sum €300 next to it. Telecommunications data also led police to the 44-year-old, said Ioannou. 

The meeting on the day of the murder, October 31, was due to take place in an area near Pissouri village, said the CID investigator. 

Police will take another 180 statements from family, friends and those in the professional environment of the victim, said the CID chief, adding that investigators are also waiting for the results of ballistic tests on the gun. 

According to the 44-year-old’s lawyer, the suspect maintains his innocence.

GOVERNMENT spokesman Stefanos Stefanou yesterday denied reports the government is being “urged” to cooperate with the troika after submitting its own proposals on a possible memorandum of understanding. 

The document obtained by Reuters in Berlin read: “An agreement between the troika and Cyprus over key data of the programme is pending. In the meantime Cyprus has submitted its own proposals on a possible MOU which above all target the fiscal aspects of the MOU and which in the view of the troika are insufficient.

“The Eurogroup working group has again urged Cyprus to cooperate with the troika.” 

Stefanou responded, highlighting that since the government sent its final positions and clarifications to the troika on November 1, it has received “no reply or assessment of its positions by the troika indicating that the proposals are insufficient”.  The government awaits the arrival of the troika to complete negotiations and reach an agreement, he added. 

THE TURKISH Foreign Ministry yesterday warned foreign oil and gas companies of the “adverse consequences” should they take part in hydrocarbon explorations in Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ). 

Turkey is not a signatory to the Convention on the Law of the Sea and does not recognise Cyprus’ right as an island to delineate its EEZ. Despite being the only country in the world to argue in support of the sovereign status of the breakaway regime in the north, Turkey also claims Turkish Cypriots have rights over natural resources south of the island too. 

Both Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and the foreign ministry have reiterated several times that those companies cooperating with the Cyprus Republic “will not be allowed to take part in new energy projects in Turkey”. 

It is not clear from the above statement whether Turkey would go so far as to kick out international companies from projects that are already in the pipeline so to speak. 

Last Tuesday, the government announced plans to begin negotiations to award four licences for gas exploration in Cyprus’ offshore blocks as part of the second licensing round launched in February.

The blocks for which the licenses have been awarded are: 2, 3, 9 and 11. They are all contiguous blocks, lying north and north-east of Block 12, where US firm Noble Energy has a concession to drill.

The four blocks were awarded to a mix of consortiums and single bidders, including Italian ENI, French Total, South Korean KOGAS, and Russian companies NOVATEC and GPB Global Resources.

 The Turkish foreign ministry yesterday repeated its “call to the relevant countries and oil companies to act with common sense, not to engage in activities in these areas which are disputed especially due to the Cyprus issue and to withdraw from the said tender”.

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz was quoted on Friday warning Italian giant ENI that Turkey may have to reconsider its role in the planned Samsun-Ceyhan crude oil pipeline, which would take crude oil from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean oil terminal in Ceyhan. 

A CONVICTED murderer provided us with some light relief this week, temporarily lifting the heavy gloom that has settled like Sahara desert dust on the once happy island of love and social consensus.

Prankster prisoner Antonis Prokopiou Kitas, aka Al Capone, pulled off his best prank since arranging the theft of the remains of a former president, tipping off the cops that a fellow prisoner Andreas Onoufriou was allegedly behind a plot to murder AG Petros Clerides and the deputy chief of the Central Prison Giorgos Tryfonides.

The chief of police, renowned for his complete lack of a sense of humour, did not get it and took Kitas’ joke seriously when it was conveyed to him and set up a top secret operation to catch the suspects before they committed the crime. 

And on Sunday night the covert police operation bore fruit, when the man who was to fire the anti-tank missile, obtained from the occupied north of course, met a cop associate (not one used to catch hookers) in Engomi to take delivery of the murder weapon and was arrested.

Cop euphoria over this success was evident as spokesmen recounted on the Monday morning radio shows the details of how they had saved the AG from being blown to bits, which was not strictly true. The missile launcher their associate delivered on Sunday night did not contain a missile. Ingenious cops had cleverly replaced the original launcher with one that did not work.

THE IDEA that a LAW anti-tank missile launcher would have been used for the attack on the AG was a nice touch by Kitas, making the whole story more sensational, even if less believable. It was only a little sillier than claiming an estragosha surface to AG missile would have been used.

What was wrong with using a shotgun or a semi-automatic rifle, or even a machine gun for the attack? Did the murderer have to blow up half a neighbourhood in order to get Clerides? But if the assassin was to use a normal gun it would not have to be delivered via the cops’ middleman.

The story is that the missile launcher was obtained from the north, and delivered by a friend of Onoufriou - a Larnaca lottery-ticket seller who apart from scratch-cards offers a range of anti-tank weaponry - to a middleman whom the cops claimed had decided to co-operate with them. 

There was only one snag. When the missile launcher was DNA-tested there was no trace to link it to the lottery ticket/missile seller. Perhaps he got a Turkish lottery ticket seller to deliver the Turkish rocket to the middleman.

MANY unanswered questions surrounding the case remain. Did the cops actually believe that Onoufriou was so stupid he revealed his plan to Kitas while they were working in the book-binding section of the prisons? How would the plotters have killed Clerides and the deputy prison chief, bearing in mind that a LAW missile launcher is one-use? Did they investigate the possibility that another lottery-ticket seller may have supplied the exocet missile that would murder Tryfonides? Why did the police not take seriously Onoufriou’s tip-off that Kitas was planning to kidnap comrade Tof’s grandson, a piece of information reported during the remand hearing; was it not as believable as Kitas’ revelation? Is it true that DNA testing could not identify any traces of intelligence in the police force?

ONE MAN who would have proved this hypothesis if he had been tested was the deputy Prison Chief Tryfonides, who milked his potential murder victimhood for all it was worth. “Why do these sick minds exist,” he asked.

He considered resigning, he said, but the “hundreds of messages of support”, he received “give me the strength to carry on the difficult task I am performing.” What a hero.

He was not the only one who took Kitas’ imaginative prank seriously. The political parties congratulated the cops, with EDEK praising the “high professionalism shown by the police in preventing this heinous planned crime.”

AG Clerides, who knows what half-wits the force employs, said he did not feel unsafe nor had he any intention of asking for his personal security to be stepped up. Justice minister Loucas Louca was more revealing. He said that the police received a very big number of tip-offs from prisoners and only a tiny fraction of these had any basis in truth.

If the source is Kitas and the tip-off is about lottery-ticket sellers supplying anti-tank missile launchers obtained from the Turks to a paid assassin for the murder of the AG, it must belong to the tiny fraction with a basis in truth.

HAS MOTHER Russia replaced Greece as the mother country, to which all leading politicians feel obliged to pay tribute, when they want to fool people into voting for them? In the space of a week two presidential candidates - Lillikas and the Fuhrer - and the boss of the third presidential candidate, the AKEL Android, visited Moscow.

Lillikas, predictably, was the most gushing in his praise of our new foster mother, calling for an “upgrading and deepening of Cyprus-Russia relations”, from “just friendly relations to a strategic partnership”.  When he was foreign minister Lillikas forged a strategic defence partnership with France, which involved a joint search and rescue operation, before it was shelved. Its only lasting effect of was that wall signs in the foreign ministry building that were in Greek and English were replaced by wall signs in Greek and French.

LILLIKAS also reported there was great interest among Russians in buying shares in the hydrocarbons company he would set up if, God forbid, he became president. In addition to this there was ‘intense’ Russian interest in helping the re-capitalisation of our insolvent banks and in investment in the creation of an energy infrastructure.

He also re-assured worried Russians that Kyproulla’s natural gas would not be in competition with their natural gas and there could be “convergences of energy interests” between the two countries. The visibly nervous representative of Gazprom at the meeting breathed a big sigh of relief when he heard this.

Gazprom has nothing to fear if Lillikas is elected president.

THE FUHRER was restrained, by comparison, calling for a “substantive strengthening of Nicosia-Moscow relations”. But could they be strengthened, upgraded, or deepened any further than the degree achieved by the comrade who has been acting like a proud, Putin puppet? Any further strengthening would involve ceding our sovereignty to Moscow.

Speaking on his return, the competitive Nik boasted that it was under DISY’s government that relations with Russia were strengthened. He had a point, but it must have helped that we bought military hardware, including the estragoshas, totalling about a billion euro. Now we can’t even afford to buy sling-shot so he will have to think of other ways to strengthen relations substantively. 

Maybe, as special favour we could invite them to re-capitalise our banks, as Lillikas suggested. But I do not think we should make any concessions to Gazprom.

THE ANDROID felt he had to bring some good news back from Moscow, so he told a morning radio show that good progress was being made on the Tof fairy-tale of the Russian loan. Having had no luck with his initial request for a loan Comrade Tof submitted a new proposal which was now on the table, said the Android. At lunch-time he was forced to tell the truth. There was no new proposal, but the comrade was involved in “continuous consultations with Moscow” about the loan request he had made last June.

COMMIE lies, propaganda and misinformation have become much cruder in the last month or so, a sign of desperation. On Monday AKEL bruiser Giorgos Loucaides accused DISY and DIKO of opposing the Russian loan, as if this were the reason it was not given.

As we reported last week, the party mouthpiece Haravghi claimed that all the unpopular measures included in the government’s counter proposals were suggested by DISY. 

On Wednesday the paper’s front-page headline read ‘Troika in Cyprus on Monday’. 

Meanwhile, finance ministry sources have been telling the media, every other day that the troika would announce the date of its visit in the next 24 hours, but no date has been given yet. DISY must be using its influence at the IMF to delay the arrival. 

The latest news is that the IMF will announce the date of the Troikans visit on Monday night, but I wouldn’t bet more than euro on it.

SOME CYPROB slogans have slipped into government’s troika rhetoric. The other day comrade Android said that AKEL would support a bailout agreement with “the right content”, while comrade Tof didactically told the troika that “it needs to show flexibility” in its treatment of our counter-proposals. And if there is no bailout agreement it would be exclusively because of the troika’s intransigence. The comrade has departed from his Cyprob philosophy in one regard – he has suddenly become quite keen on asphyxiating timeframes, now that the troika does not seem in hurry seal the bailout.

KYPROULLA might not have anyone short-listed for a Nobel prize this year, but we can definitely nominate couple of candidates for the Darwin awards, which are given to people who do resoundingly stupid things.

Our best hope for an award this year must be Asil Nadir, who voluntarily went back to the UK to clear his name in the courts and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for stealing some £30 million from his company. On Friday a judge ordered him to pay £5 million in compensation within two years or face another six year in the slammer. 

Was Nadir so dumb to risk spending the last years of his life – he is 71 - in the nick and not seeing his gorgeous 28-year-old wife Nur? Life in a tiny cultural dump, like north Cyprus, in which Nadir was stuck for 17 years, surrounded by uncouth Anatolian peasants must have been insufferable, but to risk going to prison to escape it, does not seem very smart. Then again... it might not be so stupid either.

ANOTHER candidate for a Darwin award was the 54-year-old actor, who robbed a Tseri co-op bank of which he was a regular customer. He thought a wig, fake moustache, sunglasses and speaking in English would do the trick, but he was recognised by the cashiers, two other co-op employees, an off duty cop and a female bystander outside the bank. 

He left with €13,000 and was arrested three hours later. Next time, he should seek the services of a better make-up artist, not that a better disguise would have made much difference this time. The Darwin nominee left the scene in his own car, not having bothered to put false number plates on it.

A GLYKIS drinking customer who visited our establishment on Thursday, answered the anguished question we posed last week as to whether the comrade had renounced his communist faith and embraced Catholicism. 

His frequent meetings with the Pope had nothing to do with faith, said the customer. The comrade likes to discuss his thoughts and experiences with the Pontiff because they share one God-given quality – infallibility. The Pope knows how tough it is for those blessed with infallibility to cope with the envy, nastiness and malice of lesser men, said the customer as he wiped dregs of coffee off his tongue.

There are now one hundred and twelve days left of the comrade’s infallible rule. We should make the most of the 112 days in which no presidential mistakes will be committed, because, après Tof, le deluge. 

WHILE IN JAPAN for the IMF’s annual meeting, last month, Cyprus’ finance minister Vassos Shiarly was told by a top European Commission official that Cyprus was closer to the pound than Greece was to the drachma (a view that may have been somewhat modified after the latest goings-on in Athens). 

A week or so later, in newspaper article, the former Vice Chairman of Moody’s ratings agency, Christopher T Mahoney, wrote Cyprus was “an economic, financial and political mess, worse than Greece, and it may not be too big to fail.” He added: “I think that the first country to exit the euro-zone may be Cyprus and soon.”

That Cyprus is still in the euro-zone is thanks to its EU partners, said an EU ambassador, based here, earlier this week, as there was no other rational explanation for this. The question is for how much longer could we rely on our partners’ support and solidarity, considering that we are not too big to fail and there is no risk of contagion from a possible collapse of our financial system?

The alarming thing for Cyprus is that in this most critical time has as its president a cowardly, indecisive and irresponsible populist who is oblivious to the gravity of the situation we are in. He does not have the first idea of how an economy works and listens to nobody but the inept yes-men he is surrounded by. He has made his finance minister a peripheral figure, whom he does not consult or ever listen to.  

Shiarly has been publicly humiliated by Christofias on several occasions, is constantly undermined by the government spokesman and was not even part of the team that prepared our counter-proposals for the troika; the president did not have a single economist in his team. Shiarly is aware of what is at stake as he is in direct contact with the troika and Eurogroup finance ministers, but every attempt he makes to persuade the government to take speedy decisions is thwarted by his all-knowing leader.

The problem is that Christofias does not understand that we are “not too big to fail” and that we have been trying the patience of our EU partners with our crude stalling tactics, the government refusing to engage with the troika for a full two months, despite the pleas of the Commission and the president of the Euro group. And then there was the EU agreement he signed, undertaking to ensure the budget deficit for this year would be 2.5 per cent. When it became apparent, several months ago, that we would not meet the target he still refused to take any measures, showing utter contempt for what he had agreed.

Now, thanks to his stalling and indecision, we have missed the target of November 12 for approval of the bailout, as there is no agreement with the troika. We do not even know when its representatives will come to bash out the final details of the bailout. The next Eurogroup meeting, the last of the year, is scheduled for December 3, but given our government’s idiotic red lines and grandstanding, nobody could safely say that the bailout agreement would be ready by then. 

At present nobody knows what is happening. Despite the government’s daily predictions the troika would announce the date of its arrival very soon we are still waiting. The latest report is that a date would be announced tomorrow night. We cannot even believe the finance minister when he says most issues have been agreed with the lenders, because he does not speak on behalf of the totally unpredictable Christofias.  

What we do know is that anything is possible with a president who is blind to reality, unable to grasp the lasting damage prolonged uncertainty is causing. We have insolvent banks that move closer to collapse in the absence of a bailout. Then there is the danger that the prolonged uncertainty and instability of the system could prompt foreign depositors to move their billions to another country, in which case the overnight collapse of the banks would be inevitable. 

A responsible leader, aware of these catastrophic dangers, would not have put the troika’s package in the drawer, refusing to look at it for two whole months while cultivating public opposition to the measures our prospective lenders were proposing. He would have informed the public about the sacrifices we would have to make and signed a memorandum within weeks, in order bring some stability.

With Christofias in charge, we cannot be certain of this happening even this month. It is time for political parties, the media and professional group to apply maximum pressure on him to sign a memorandum. They could resort to scare-mongering, alarmism, protests outside the presidential palace, whatever it takes. We simply cannot leave the country’s future in the hands of this irresponsible, cowardly populist who cannot comprehend the scale of the catastrophe the country is facing. 

THE ONGOING detention of a 25-year-old potential victim of labour and sexual exploitation for three weeks and three days has served to highlight the systemic symptoms of a deficient domestic workers employment system, geared towards protecting the employer and demeaning trafficking victims, experts told the Sunday Mail.  

A 25-year-old domestic worker from Nigeria filed a series of complaints to the Limassol Labour Relations Office on October 4 relating to alleged abuses at her workplace as well as claims that her employer had taken her to a Paphos hotel to have sex with other men at least twice.

According to the complaint, which the Sunday Mail has seen, the 25-year-old was brought to Cyprus by her employer who she used to work for in Nigeria. She said her work involves cleaning up and looking after a three-floor residence in Limassol, taking care of her employer’s son, son-in-law, daughter and grandchildren, as well as gardening and washing the car. 

She was allegedly made to work from 5.30am until 10pm without a day off. When the Nigerian woman asked for her first salary, her employer reportedly told her she will not pay her for at least a year to cover the expense of bringing her to Cyprus. 

The 25-year-old wrote in her complaint that her employer took her to a Paphos hotel in September, where a wedding was taking place, to have sexual intercourse with a man for money.

The employee also asked to be taken to a doctor after developing red spots all over her face and arms. Her boss allegedly replied she had no money for a doctor so the 25-year-old worker asked permission to go to her cousin’s place in Nicosia to get medicine. When she returned later that evening, her employer allegedly beat her and locked her in a room. 

The Nigerian woman managed to escape with just the clothes on her back using a duplicate key. She returned to Nicosia, where she was put in touch with Renos Pelayias, a retired policeman who now works with the Cyprian Samaritans OFW Foundation Incorporation. He gave her shelter and on October 4, took her to Limassol to file a complaint with the district labour office. 

Within days, the employer made a counter-claim that the domestic worker had stolen €3,500 worth of jewellery.

On October 12, both the employer and employee were called to the Limassol labour relations office to give their respective version of events. 

“The labour relations office provides a parody of a trial. The employee says one thing, the employer the opposite, and then the labour officer writes up a report and sends it to the advisory committee. This committee takes a minimum of four months. I’ve had cases where they’ve taken seven months to examine the report,” said Pelayias. 

After a domestic worker files a complaint against their employer, they have two choices until a final decision is made, go back to the employer they have accused to work, or sit and wait. They are not allowed to work elsewhere. 

“What are the women supposed to do in the meantime? How can a woman eat, drink, find shelter during this time? The state gives them nothing. And don’t forget, we are talking about legal workers who came to this country legally,” he added 

According to the retired policeman, during the meeting at the labour office on October 12, the employer commented on the alleged sexual exploitation, saying that she was only trying to find the 25-year-old a husband. 

“The problem is the labour relations officer won’t write that in their report because it’s not labour-related,” he said. 

On the same day, just after the meeting, the 25-year-old was arrested by Limassol CID. She has been in prison in Nicosia since, awaiting the start of her trial tomorrow for the alleged theft of jewellery. She has not been allowed any visitors. 

Migrant support group KISA raised the issue in a press release last week, sending it to the police chief, labour ministry and ombudswoman’s office, as well as the media. The only response came from the ombudwoman’s office, which has launched an investigation.  

KISA representative Doros Polycarpou called on the authorities to end the practice of placing foreigners in custody because of the supposed flight risk, even though the migrants in question usually do not have travel documents or money and are owed wages.  

“I would like to know whether police have statistics on how many times employers have made a complaint of theft against a domestic worker after the latter has abandoned the workplace and filed a complaint against them?” he said.  

He questioned why the legal service would choose to go ahead and prosecute a case of alleged theft on flimsy evidence, since they usually end up dropping the case. And even without a conviction, the acquitted will often find themselves facing a deportation order, he said.  

Meanwhile, the labour office compiled a report on the Nigerian case and, according to a labour ministry source, on October 17, sent it to the migration department for review by the advisory committee of Anny Shakallis, the migration department head. 

Asked whether the labour office had referred the allegations of sexual exploitation to the police unit responsible for trafficking, the same official said it was up to the woman to go the police and make the complaint. 

A migration official told the Sunday Mail he had yet to see the report. Regarding the allegations, he said if they were serious, the police will launch an investigation. 

Before the 25-year-old domestic worker is even allowed to file a complaint against her employer at the labour office, she has to go to immigration police to notify them of the complaint.

At no point in the intervening period has the police launched an investigation into claims of sexual exploitation, nor has the labour office referred the Nigerian woman to the police as a potential victim of trafficking.  

According to human rights lawyer Nicoletta Charalambidou, “the law on trafficking states clearly that anyone who suspects a potential victim of trafficking needs to be referred. It is unacceptable that the labour office does not refer potential victims to the police.” 

Charalambidou said the authorities are refusing to implement the law adopted after Cyprus had its knuckles rapped by the European Court of Human rights over the death of trafficking victim 20-year-old Oxana Rantcheva in 2001. “It’s as if Rantcheva never happened,” she said. 

When the advisory committee finally examines the labour office report, it will make a recommendation to Shakallis who will take a final decision on whether to release the employee from their employer who they are tied to or simply tell them to leave the country. 

One official source with in-depth knowledge on the issue said the whole system of bringing domestic workers to Cyprus was geared towards labour trafficking. 

“The whole process of taking a complaint to the labour relations office which sends a report to the advisory committee which makes a proposal to Shakallis is geared towards protecting the Cypriot employer,” he said. 

Employees are almost always told to return to their country of origin, even if the advisory committee rules in the worker’s favour, said the official. 

Migration will tell them to leave and file a lawsuit for wages owed from their country of origin. Assuming they do so, migration is willing to consider issuing a visa for them to return to Cyprus to attend court hearings.  

Charalambidou said she has two cases pending at the Supreme Court where the advisory committee agreed that the employee’s rights had been violated and still recommended the domestic worker leave Cyprus, which Shakallis adopted. 

“But how can you get the money owed you? There is nothing forcing the employer to do so. The only way is to go to a labour dispute court, but you need money for a lawyer as there is no legal aid for this, and you need around a year to get it processed,” she said. 

Charalambidou further noted that she is not aware of any record held by the labour ministry of employers who repeatedly violate labour and other laws.  

A case in point, she said, was the 18 Indian farm workers recently recognised as victims of trafficking by the authorities. They worked on a farm that has had multiple complaints of violations. 

Asked to comment, senior official at the ombudswoman’s office, Aristos Tsiartias said yesterday: “The ombudswoman’s office has compiled a report on all the weaknesses of this system, which needs immediate review.” 

Renos Pelayias, a retired policeman does what he can to help foreign workers

An off-duty British soldier was stabbed to death in the popular resort of Ayia Napa on Sunday, police said, saying they had detained three British tourists for questioning.

The incident occurred at a nightclub in the resort. The soldier, a 19-year-old serving with the Second Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was stabbed in the chest and was dead upon arrival at a local hospital.

Police identified the victim as David Lee Collins, 19, who served at the Dhekelia garrison.

Police said three suspects held for questioning were British citizens, all teenagers. They were due to appear before a court today, police said.

"We can confirm there was a stabbing incident involving a British soldier who was killed," a spokeswoman for the British bases in Cyprus said.

The incident happened in an area of Ayia Napa which is out-of-bounds for British soldiers.

RESIDENTS of the village of Kellia in the Larnaca district were left baffled yesterday after finding out that the Greek flag on their church had been replaced with a Turkish one while letters and other items were found in the vicinity.

It was around 6.15am when residents discovered that the flag at the church of Ayios Antonis had been replaced with a Turkish one while a squash tied with a chain and a collection of hand-written and printed letters were also left in the vicinity.

A sickle was also found near the flagpole.

A while later, the head of the community Panayiotis Tyrimou was informed that a Greek flag - with abuse written on it in Turkish - was found at the Ayios Georgios monastery near Troulloi, north of Kellia.

The chapel of Profitis Elias in Oroklini was also targeted, with its flag replaced with a black pair of trousers.

“It is weird,” Tyrimou said. “The community is distressed … nothing like this has ever happened before.”

Police said they are investigating the matter.

TEN flights carrying around 1,200 passengers to and from Larnaca and Paphos airports will be hit by a Greek air traffic controllers' strike today.

The strike will last for three hours affecting a total of five departures and five arrivals from Larnaca and Paphos airports. The strike will begin at 10am and finish at 1pm, Adamos Aspris, spokesman for Hermes Airports, said yesterday.

“The strike will affect all five departures and five arrivals due to take place to and from Athens, Salonika and Patras Airports. It is expected that 1,200 passengers will be affected,” he said.

He added that the airlines have rescheduled their flights and there should be no cancellations although there could be delays of up to one and a half hours.

Aspris recommended that any passengers flying today should get in touch with their airlines or with Larnaca or Paphos airports.

A LAW amendment will reduce the road transport department’s yearly income from road licences by €7.2 million but will prevent fines from the European Union (EU), the House finance committee heard yesterday.

The bill proposes that owners of vehicles such as cars and vans pay an annual road tax based on their vehicles’ carbon dioxide emissions and not on engine capacity as is done now. 

Buses - up to now exempt - will also need a road licence.

All new vehicle owners will also pay a vehicle registration fee of €150, irrespective of vehicle origin or age.

A finance ministry representative said they were due to earn only €3.8 million a year from the proposed registration fees changes, falling short of the €11 million the road transport department calculates it can earn from vehicle registrations, as things stand.

Though the finance ministry said it will try to recover the lost income, it would not say whether this would be by increasing taxes, the head of the finance committee Nicolas Papadopoulos said.

“We believe this law proposal will modernise to a large extent the way vehicles are taxed and will harmonise [the law] with today’s European standards which we must follow,” said Papadopoulos. Taxing vehicles based on their engine capacity is no longer relevant, Papadopoulos said.

“Engines with a much lower engine capacity may have much better performances and so this novel approach, Europe’s modern approach, is the pursuance of lower carbon dioxide emissions,” he added.

Under the proposed changes, road licence fees will be tiered and range from €20 to €1,300 depending on the vehicle’s carbon dioxide emission. The threshold is an emission of over 100 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre while emissions of over 256 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre will be subject to the maximum charge.

“The proposed bill can ensure we are compatible with EU legislation, fix weaknesses and give us a more effective fee system for vehicles,” said EDEK’s Nicos Nicolaides. 

He added that the changes would benefit lower income earners who do not drive large engine capacity cars.

HUNDREDS of Paphos school children who are no longer able to purchase school breakfasts are being offered assistance by local authorities to ensure they don’t go hungry.

President of the Paphos municipality social welfare committee Maria Zavrou said that at the Archbishop Makarios III Lyceum alone, the head teacher told her that there were 25 children there whose parents had no money to give them for school breakfast.

Zavrou said the welfare programme would remain in place for as long as was necessary.

She said the present crisis was affecting children of all nationalities.

“We are going into schools to try and help children whose families are struggling due to the ramifications of the economic crisis. Because of the economic climate, many parents have lost their jobs,” she said. “This means very little money to make ends meet and they don’t have the funds to give their children to purchase sandwiches from the school shops or canteens.”

According to Zavrou, students are at school from 7.30am until 1.40pm, and usually have a sandwich at break time.

“Children can’t go without, this is a long time to go without food,” she said.

The education ministry, the local education authority and the heads of schools recognised that there was a problem in Paphos, with many families needing help.

Zavrou said: “The parents' association at this high school, as is the case with other schools, is trying to take measures to help these children. Some are making sandwiches for free and others are paying money to the school shops for these snacks.”

A mother of two young boys wishing to identify herself only as Anna told the Cyprus Mail: “We are really struggling as a family and we feel ashamed to ask for help. My husband worked in the building industry but he no longer has any work. I have a job as a cleaner, but this is not enough for us to live off.”

She added “We have already used most of our savings and we lie awake at night worrying about how we can feed our family. My husband looks for work every day but there is nothing for him. What sort of mother am I if I can’t even feed my children?”

Zavrou said that of all of the Paphos schools she has visited so far, around 25 to 30 children in each school are facing problems.

“We have 34 or so schools in Paphos and numerous nurseries and kindergartens. The smaller children in the five-year-olds age group are also being affected.”

She added that families finding themselves in this position can contact the head of the school to try and see what help is available.

“There is help for everyone, no children will go without.” Zavrou said that the crisis had brought out a caring side in many of the children.

“I know that on a daily basis, some of the children are breaking their sandwiches into half and sharing it with the other children,” she said.

AROUND 2,400 unemployed university graduates could be employed during the presidential elections next year, it emerged yesterday, as the number of jobless in October rose to nearly 40,000.

The matter will be cleared on Wednesday, the deadline given to parties to give their views on the recommendation.

“The first reaction was positive but some parties wanted to see what procedures we will put in place,” said Demetris Demetriou, head of the elections service.

The elections are scheduled for Sunday, February 17 and a runoff vote, if necessary, a week later.

Demetriou declined to offer more details regarding the selection criteria before a final decision was made.

The pledge, he said, is to use unemployed degree holders and those selected would be asked to provide a certificate from the labour ministry that they are registered as unemployed.

Demetriou said the plan was for two jobless degree holders to staff polling centres that need four assistants.

According to the island’s statistics service (Cystat), the number of jobless people reached 39,510 in October, a 29 per cent year-on-year rise.

The rise mainly concerned the sectors of construction, trade, manufacturing, accommodation and food service activities, public administration, as well as to newcomers in the labour market.

The rise in the number of jobless has forced the government to transfer cash from the supplementary pensions account to the unemployment allowances fund to cover this year’s expected deficit of between €37 million and €43 million.

The labour ministry decided to transfer 50 million to cover benefit needs – a practice that was followed in previous years, according to AKEL MP Andreas Fakontis.

PROPER safety measures were once again disregarded on Sunday, as the first day of this year’s hunting season saw three people injured and scores of hunting dogs poisoned.

The first casualty was a 54-year-old hunter from the Larnaca district who was injured by pellets shot from another hunter early Sunday. He was taken to Larnaca general hospital after sustaining serious injuries to his eye and other parts of his body.

The second injury occurred very shortly after in the area near Ayios Mamas in Limassol, where a 30-year-old hunter fractured his leg when he slipped and fell into a 50-metre ravine. The Limassol fire and police departments carried out a rescue operation to remove him from the ravine with the help of the police helicopter. He was then transported to Limassol general hospital.

The third casualty was injured in the area of Polemi village in Paphos. Under circumstances that are still being investigated, a 55-year-old Nicosia resident injured his toe when his gun accidentally went off. He was taken to Paphos general hospital where the toe had to be amputated.

Once again, humans weren’t the only casualties as a large number of hunting dogs were poisoned. The motivation behind these poisonings is thought to be rivalry between groups of hunters and a ‘turf war’ to monopolise certain hunting areas. 

“Vets from all districts were swamped with cases of poisoned dogs. These cowards poison dogs simply for their own benefit. For them hunting is not a sport, but an opportunity to show off,” Antonis Nicolaides, spokesperson for the Pancyprian Hunting Association, told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.

In addition, three people were reported to the Paphos Game Fund for hunting without a licence and in areas where hunting is prohibited.

Game Fund spokesperson, Petros Anayiotos, stressed the importance of abiding by the safety regulations that were issued by the Game Fund before hunting season began.

“Wearing hunting goggles to protect eyes from pellets, dressing in designated orange gear to increase visibility and ensuring the proper use and transport of guns are all essential measures that need to be taken in order to avoid such accidents,” he said.

AN ORGANISATION for religious foundations in the north has leased an historic and beautifully restored Armenian site through an unfair and opaque tender procedure, the United Nations Development Program-Action for Cooperation and Trust (UNDP-ACT) program have said.

EVKAF, that oversees religious foundations in the north, leased in August the 14th century Armenian Church of Sourp Asdvadzadzin and Monastery complex (AMD) in the Arabahmet area of northern Nicosia that was renovated with UNDP-ACT funds as part of reconciliation efforts.

Turkish Cypriot press reports named the Near East University as the winner of a ten-year tender to turn the monastery into a cultural centre.

According to Vartkes Mahdessian, the Armenian representative in parliament, such a move goes against the project’s original intention.

“The objective was to have a multi-communal area where communities could come together and for the church to be used as a place of worship by the Armenian community,” he said yesterday.

UNDP-ACT echoed Mahdessian’s concerns in a news release yesterday.

Stakeholders worked “to restore the site to international standards so that it could encourage peace and reconciliation between all of the communities in Cyprus,” said the statement from UNDP-ACT and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Although UNDP-ACT and USAID did not name the tender winner, they recently said that they learned that “the site had been leased by EVKAF through a tender process that was neither fair nor transparent.” 

“We have expressed our serious concerns to EVKAF about this unacceptable result,” the news release said. 

The Cyprus Mail was unable to speak to the UNDP-ACT to clarify the news release.

USAID and UNDP-ACT put €3.5 million into what they have called a “visionary endeavour” and a “unique confidence building measure” referring to efforts to build trust among the island’s communities.

“UNDP and USAID look forward to a speedy resolution of this issue so that we can continue to support all communities in Cyprus on cultural heritage initiatives,” the news release said. 

Mahdessian said that the news release “enforces our efforts” adding that they have been meeting with diplomats and representations “and we are waiting for an outcome whereby justice will be restored”.

As a first step, the tender procedure must be annulled, Mahdessian said.

According to the UNDP and USAID, the Turkish Cypriot leadership agreed to investigate the outcome and take action “as appropriate”.

The AMD includes historic buildings partially surrounded by a tall masonry wall and including a Gothic masonry church and part of a monastery complex. It was in poor condition when the decision to fix it was taken.

Mahdessian yesterday praised the restoration work, now completed.

DISY leader Nicos Anastasiades maintains an as yet unassailable lead ahead of next year's presidential elections, the latest survey has shown.

The results of the poll, published by Phileleftheros on Sunday, indicated what might happen in a runoff ballot between the two finalists.

It gave Anastasiades a 20 per cent advantage over AKEL-backed candidate Stavros Malas, and a 10 per cent edge over independent Giorgos Lillikas.

Should a second round of voting be necessary, the DISY boss would garner 49 per cent of the popular vote,  with Malas left trailing far behind at just 28.2 per cent. 

Lillikas would fare better than Malas, grabbing 32.5 per cent, compared to Anastasiades' 43.3 per cent, the poll showed.

In both scenarios, the percentage of undecided voters came to slightly over 10 per cent. The rate of abstention ranged from 8.2 per cent (Anastasiades v Malas) to 9.3 per cent (Anastasiades v Lillikas).

The presidential elections will be held on February 17, 2013; if no candidate obtains 50 per cent of the vote from the first round a second round would follow on February 24. 

Incumbent president Demetris Christofias has announced that he will not be seeking re-election.

According to the survey's findings, the public also seems to think Anastasiades is most likely to deliver if elected to office. Forty-seven per cent of those polled expected the DISY leader to more effectively handle the economic crisis, compared to 15 per cent each for Malas and Lillikas.

The vote of confidence extends to the handling of the Cyprus problem, with Anastasiades getting 42 per cent, Lillikas 20 per cent and Malas 17 per cent.

On reforming public administration, 45 per cent believe Anastasiades can do the job, compared to just 16 per cent each for Lillikas and Malas.

THREE British tourists appeared at Famagusta District Court yesterday in connection with the fatal stabbing of a 19-year-old British soldier during a nightclub brawl in Ayia Napa.

Fusilier David Lee Collins from Manchester died minutes after being stabbed in the chest after a fight broke out early Sunday morning, and just hours before he was due to be deployed to Afghanistan with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers

Collins had been clubbing with three other soldiers when they became involved in the brawl with three British holidaymakers from London, but the exact circumstances behind the altercation remain unclear.

The suspects, two of Pakistani origin and the third of Somali descent, were taken into custody minutes after the stabbing and kept in separate police stations before appearing in court yesterday morning looking subdued and dressed in denim jeans and t-shirts.

They have not been formally charged but could face possible charges of premeditated murder, conspiracy to commit a crime and possession of an offensive weapon.

Magistrate Marinella Miliotou ordered that the men be held in police custody for eight days, whilst police continue their investigation.

The court heard that one of the tourists, Mohamed Abdulkadir Osman, 19, told police he stabbed the victim in self-defence when his friends were allegedly assaulted by a group of British soldiers.

Osman claimed he waved a knife solely to intimidate them. But one “lunged at him” and as “a result the knife went into the man who was attacking him”, according to a “voluntary statement” Osman made to police on Sunday.

Osman appeared in court with a gash on his forehead and his left hand bandaged. The teenager looked shaken and distressed, only speaking to confirm his name to the magistrate.

Osman along with the two other suspects, both 17-years-old, stood in silence as the police report was translated to them. The 17-year-olds, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, admitted that they were at the scene of the crime, but rejected being involved in the incident.

During the brief hearing which lasted just ten minutes, police disclosed that they were investigating an allegation that the two groups had arranged to meet at the Black and White nightclub to settle their difference after an argument late on Saturday night.

The confrontation is believed to have erupted after taunting related to regional rivalry between London and Manchester, CID officer Stelios Christodoulou told the court.

George Economou, a police spokesman, said police are investigating information the two groups had arranged to meet at the nightclub to settle earlier differences which police believe were not race-related. 

The court heard how after the stabbing Fusilier Collins was given first aid outside the nightclub, but succumbed to his injuries before reaching Famagusta General Hospital, with an autopsy concluding he died from a "ruptured heart caused by a sharp instrument".

The tourists will appear in court for a further remand order or to formally face charges next Tuesday and are currently being held at separate police stations in Derynya, Xylofagou and Ayia Napa.

If charged with murder, the men could face a life sentence.

Police also said the tourists had also been found in possession of cannabis.

Economou told the Cyprus Mail that police had discovered eleven knives and a knuckleduster when officers searched the tourists’ hotel room hours after the stabbing.

“They bought the knives in Ayia Napa, but claimed they were presents for their friends back home in London,” he said.

He also confirmed that the knife used to stab Fusilier Collins was purchased at an Ayia Napa souvenir shop and found at the scene of the crime.

Flick knives, daggers, swords, knuckledusters, baseball clubs and machete blades are widely available in gift shops in Ayia Napa, with police pushing for a scheme to urge shop owners to keep a register of customers buying blades, so far without success.

A spokesman for the British Ministry of Defence said: “An investigation is being conducted by Cyprus police and it would be inappropriate to comment any further. The family has been informed and our thoughts are with them.”

British Bases spokeswoman Connie Pierce said the attack took place in an area of Ayia Napa soldiers have been told to avoid because of previous incidents.

According to British media, the stabbing has created an atmosphere of anger at the nearby base in Dhekelia, where troops are stationed as reserves for operations in Afghanistan.

“They are not supposed to go to Ayia Napa but it’s got to be wrong that he would have been safer in Afghanistan than in a nightclub in Cyprus,” a source close to the battalion told the Daily Mail.

Fusilier Collins’ family told the Manchester Evening News they were "devastated", while tributes poured in on Twitter and Facebook for the teenage soldier.

The British foreign office said it was providing consular assistance to the three suspects.

British tourist Mohamed Abdulkadir Osman, 19, entering Famagusta district court after the fatal stabbing of a British soldier in an Ayia Napa nightclub early Sunday morning.

THE government came under more pressure yesterday following a report in the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel which described Cyprus as a money-laundering haven.

Citing a confidential report by Germany's intelligence agency BND, the magazine said Russian oligarchs who have “parked” their illegal earnings inside the country stand to benefit most from an EU bailout of Cyprus.

The article, which the government swiftly dismissed as slander, came just as it looked increasingly clear yesterday that Cyprus is likely to miss a November 12 deadline for having its bailout request approved.

In its report, the BND said Russians have deposited some €20 billion in Cyprus banks, an amount greater than the island’s annual gross domestic product. It said these deposits will be guaranteed if European bailout money is paid to shore up the island’s banks. The BND also accused Cyprus of still providing opportunities for money laundering.

“The report of the BND shows who will profit most of all from the billions in European taxpayer funds - Russian oligarchs, businesspeople and mafiosi who have parked their illegal earnings in Cyprus,” the magazine said.

The report was an added embarrassment for the government after the European Commission reiterated yesterday that no date has yet been set for the troika's return to the island to finalise talks on a rescue package.

A spokesman for the EU’s euro commissioner Olli Rehn told the Cyprus News Agency: “Talks between the troika and Cyprus authorities are ongoing, but we are not in a position yet to announce the date of the next [troika] mission to Cyprus.”

German officials seemed to second that view.

“A deal before 2013 will likely be difficult,” German finance ministry spokesman Martin Kotthaus said at a press conference yesterday.

The government here may have difficulty paying public sector salaries in December unless a bailout deal is clinched and cleared by mid-November.

And even if that cut-off date is met, it would then take the parliaments of individual euro-area countries about six weeks to sanction an EU/IMF bailout.

The Eurogroup's November 12 meeting is set to discuss adjustment programmes for Spain, Cyprus and probably Slovenia. Missing that deadline could mean that Cyprus may be “butchered” if international lenders subsequently deal with the country in isolation.

Quizzed by reporters, government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou was unable to shed light on when the troika could be expected back on the island.

“We are awaiting the date for the advent of the troika so that direct negotiations [on a bailout deal] can commence. Our contact [with the troika] is on a daily basis,” he said.

Stefanou declined to comment on whether the delay is because international lenders and Cyprus are reportedly at odds over the scope of the rescue package. 

Cypriot authorities believe the island needs around €5 billion euros to recapitalise its banks, while the troika puts the figure at about €10 billion.

The German government yesterday neither confirmed nor denied the existence of the intelligence agency report reported by Der Spiegel, but MP Carsten Schneider of Germany's main opposition Social Democrats told the magazine his party would only accept a rescue package for Cyprus if certain conditions are met. 

“Before the SPD can approve loan assistance for Cyprus the country’s business model must be addressed,” Schneider was quoted as saying. “We can’t use German taxpayers’ money to guarantee deposits of illegal Russian money in Cypriot banks.”

The German politician went on to say that Cyprus must be ready to adjust its low corporate tax rate - a thorny issue for Nicosia.

Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, has to approve the payment of financial aid for eurozone countries.

Responding to the Der Spiegel story, Stefanou said such reports were designed to slander Cyprus and damage its status as an investment centre.

Cyprus fully complies with all EU anti-money laundering regulations, he said, adding that the island has been favourably rated by the Council of Europe Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures (MONEYVAL) and by the Financial Action Task Force.

On corporate tax, Stefanou said the issue was never raised during the government's discussions with the troika, adding:

“Besides, for the government the matter is very clear. There is no such question. Changing the corporate tax rate would deal a serious blow to the economy.”

The spokesman stressed also tax rates are a matter of national sovereignty.

With the services sector accounting for over 40 per cent of its GDP, Cyprus is keen to protect its corporate tax regime in a bid to keep its competitive edge. The island is currently the “lowest-tax EU Jurisdiction” that is not offshore, with a standard corporate tax rate of 10 per cent.

By comparison, the corporate tax rate in Germany stands at 29.8 on average, and in the UK at 20 per cent for annual profits under £300,000 and 24 per cent for annual profits over £300,000.

Some commentators here have suggested that some foreign countries are putting the squeeze on Cyprus now that the island is in a tight spot.

Economist Tasos Yiasemidis told news portal Sigmalive that references to Cyprus’ 10 per cent rate can be misleading. Citing Malta as an example, he said that whereas that country has a corporate tax rate of 35 per cent, authorities there return to the companies up to six-sevenths of that in cases where the profits are distributed as dividends.

This means the effective tax rate in Malta comes to just 5 per cent, Yiasemidis said.

A german weekly magazine described Cyprus as a haven for money laundering