THE UNITED Nations yesterday had a ‘standoff’ with the Turkish army in the buffer zone near the village of Avlona after the latter reinstalled a fence the UN had just removed.

At 9am yesterday, the UN took down a wire fence which the Turkish military had erected in the buffer zone in mid-November without authorisation, spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force (UNFICYP) Michel Bonnardeaux said. The UN removed a fence of barbed wire about 60 metres long and placed it just north of the buffer zone in the occupied areas.

But at around 9.30am, approximately 70 armed Turkish force soldiers arrived and “started to reinstall the fence,” which the UN had already removed, Bonnardeaux said. 

By 10am there were 100 Turkish soldiers, in what Bonnardeaux described as “a show of force”.

On site were already in total about 30 UN soldiers and officers, including engineers and a mobile force reserve. Contrary to news reports, there was no fighting, the UN said.

“You could describe it as a standoff,” Bonnardeaux said. 

What was left of the morning was then spent with soldiers looking at each other as their commanding officers discussed the situation. 

UN Force Commander Major General Chao Liu from China arrived at the scene to speak with Turkish officers in an effort to diffuse the mini-crisis in the buffer zone. 

By early afternoon, “an agreement was struck,” Bonnardeaux said with the UN agreeing to place eight concrete-filled barrels where the fence was to block off access to vehicles.

As of 6pm yesterday, the fence and the Turkish soldiers remained on site. Both were expected to leave the area after nightfall. 

The UNFICYP’s top brass were in meetings yesterday evening to discuss their response should the Turkish army not stick to its side of the agreement, bearing in mind past experience.  

According to Bonnardeaux, the authorities in the breakaway regime said they put the fence up in the first place to block a dirt road used by smugglers. 

However, from the moment the UN noticed the fence on November 12, the peacekeepers had been asking for its removal in person and in writing. 

UNFICYP is tasked with maintaining the status quo on the buffer zone and does not allow any constructions without permission. 

Because no action had been taken despite written and verbal requests and meetings, UNFICYP notified authorities they would remove the fence themselves, Bonnardeaux said.

Avlona is about 22 kilometres west of Nicosia centre and about 11km south of occupied Morphou.

A MAN was killed last night in Limassol after being stabbed in the neck in what police believe to be a case of domestic violence. 

According to Limassol CID head Ioannis Sotiriades, police were called to a house in Kapsalou in the Limassol district where they found a 34-year-old Romanian man lying dead in a pool of blood. 

His 39-year-old Greek Cypriot wife was found at the scene in a state of shock. 

Based on preliminary investigations, Sotiriades said it appeared the couple got into a quarrel after the wife asked her husband to stop drinking alcohol. The dispute turned violent and the 34-year-old ended up with a fatal stab wound to the throat. 

A police spokesman told the Cyprus Mail last night that the 39-year-old woman alleged she was hit by her husband before attacking him with the knife.  

State pathologist Eleni Antoniou arrived at the house to examine the scene of the death. 

The 39-year-old was arrested and taken to Limassol hospital to be examined by psychiatrists. She is due in Limassol district court today for a remand hearing.   

THERE are no conflicts of interest in the team members or the management of the Pimco team tasked with reviewing the Cyprus banking system, investing company Pimco said yesterday.

Pimco was responding to allegations by deputies aired this week suggesting that someone in their team was close to an (unnamed) banker who had affected the sector.

Restructuring firm Alvarez & Marsal auditing Cyprus’ two major banks has already rubbished vested interest claims made by DISY MP Kyriacos Hajiyiannis who also made the Pimco allegations. 

“Pimco takes very seriously its responsibilities in managing this important project,” the company said in relation to performing independent due diligence of the banking system. 

“This includes ensuring there are no conflicts of interest in the composition of the project team or the management of the assignment,” it said.

SOCIAL allowances worth around €30 million will be cut as part of the government’s austerity drive to meet the terms of a bailout, MPs heard yesterday.

The €30 million concern cuts from the labour ministry’s budget, discussed by the House Finance committee.

In all, the state is expected to cut some €113 million in social transfers.

Labour ministry permanent secretary Giorgos Papageorgiou told MPs that certain allowances given to recipients of state assistance will be cut but the basic aid remains untouched.

“After a lot of effort during the negotiations, we succeeded in keeping the state help for basic needs unaffected,” Papageorgiou said. 

The measures will see the Easter allowance scrapped, saving €3 million, and the Christmas bonus cut by 20 per cent. This will save the state €1.6 million a year.

The government is also looking to save some €600,000 by scrapping the lump sum for single elderly people while €3 million will be spared by abolishing the heating allowance.

Close to €3 million will also be saved by cutting the so-called nutrition allowance – with some exceptions – and €1.1 million from reducing the temporary aid.

Also gone is the special aid given – without any income criteria – to retirees who received a pension of up to €854.

Papageorgiou said an amount earmarked to cover this would be transferred to the finance ministry and paid to recipients using income criteria.

Those eligible would have to apply to the finance ministry.

Other measures include scrapping the marriage allowance and a 30 per cent cut in the funeral allowance.

The cuts also include reductions in the allowance given to people with disabilities to buy a car.

People with disabilities will also see a 50 per cent reduction in summer holiday assistance – to save €150,000 while officials are discussing a 9 per cent cut in allowances given to blind people and others with heavy disabilities.

The government is also planning to scrap some civil servant allowances and reduce others by 15 per cent.

EURO zone joblessness has reached a new high and the poor state of the economy is reducing inflation to near two-year lows, raising the prospect of further interest cuts by the European Central Bank.

In Cyprus the unemployment rate hit 12.9 per cent in October compared to 9.2 per cent in October 2011, and 12.2 per cent in September this year. In the eurozone area the jobless rate rose to a record average of 11.7 per cent. 

Cyprus, which is going through its worst recession in around four decades, was behind Greece, and ahead of Spain and Portugal. 

And it is set to get worse in the next two years.

According to government figures contained in the state budget, unemployment is expected to reach 13.8 per cent next year and peak at 14.2 per cent in 2014 before dropping a year later.

Eurostat said unemployment across the EU and the eurozone have shown a marked increase compared with October last year.

The eurozone (EA17) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 11.7 per cent in October 2012, up from 11.6 per cent the previous month. The EU unemployment rate was 10.7 per cent compared with 10.6 per cent in September. 

The jobless rate in the two zones – EA17 and EU -- in October 2011 was 10.4 per cent and 9.9 per cent respectively.

Eurostat estimates that 25.9 million men and women in the EU27, of whom 18.7 million in the eurozone, were unemployed in October 2012. 

Compared with September 2012, the number of jobless rose by 204,000 in the EU and by 173,000 in the eurozone. 

Year-on-year, unemployment rose by around 2.160 million in the EU27 and by 2.174 million in the eurozone.

The lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.3 per cent), Luxembourg

(5.1 per cent), Germany (5.4 per cent) and the Netherlands (5.5 per cent), and the highest in Spain (26.2 per cent) and Greece (25.4 per cent in August 2012).

The figures show that joblessness has been pushed to the highest level since the euro was introduced in 1999, illustrating the human impact of a public debt and banking crisis that has reverberated across the world.

Struggling companies and indebted households have also lost the confidence to spend and invest, evident in the annual consumer price inflation reading for November, which dropped to 2.2 per cent in November from 2.5 per cent in October.

Consumer price inflation was at its lowest level since December 2010. One of the smallest rises in energy price inflation in a year helped to bring inflation to near the ECB's target of near, but just under 2.0 per cent, opening the door to more rate cuts by the bank.

The ECB last cut its main refinancing rate in July, to a record low of 0.75 per cent, and economists in a Reuters poll this week were more divided than ever on whether there will be another rate cut early next year.

"The outlook is still bleak," said Thomas Costerg, an economist at Standard Chartered in London, who sees an ECB rate cut in the first three months of next year.

"We think that ECB President Mario Draghi will leave the door open for more stimulus in the coming months," he said.

The cost of borrowing for banks and households in the euro zone is already at a record low of 0.75 per cent and economists question whether further rate cuts will do much good, because of a lack of confidence among banks to lend.

The central bank may decide to postpone a rate cut until after its next meeting on December 6 as it tries to keep markets focused on the benefits of its recently-announced plan to buy the bonds of governments in distress and keep their borrowing costs down.

The bond-buying programme has calmed nervy investors who predicted the break-up of the euro zone just a few months ago and many are moving back into Italian and Spanish bond markets.

But the euro zone's economic reality is one of a slowing German economy, stagnation in France, recession for Italy and Spain and an outright depression in Greece, with no signs of a quick recovery.

Many economists blame the spending cuts implemented by almost all governments in the past three years to try to bring down their deficits that ballooned over the past decade.

But in a shift in tone, the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission say now that they may have been too aggressive in pushing for government cutbacks. The Commission is now advocating "growth-friendly fiscal consolidation".

Draghi, speaking on French radio yesterday tried to sound cautiously upbeat and has avoided the word "recession" in his public comments in recent weeks. "The recovery for most of the euro zone will certainly begin in the second half of 2013," he told Europe 1 radio.

THE UNION movement across Cyprus is planning to hold a work stoppage and mass rally outside Parliament and the Finance Ministry to protest against cost-cutting measures included in the loan agreement with the troika, in transpired yesterday. 

Unions met yesterday for three hours in Nicosia to discuss their response to the cuts in spending on the public payroll promised by the state to international lenders. 

Speaking after the meeting, SEK union boss Nicos Moyseos said all unions found the measures affecting workers and burdening the public with more taxes to be “tough”. 

Union representatives agreed to propose a mass rally attended by the entire union movement to their respective organisations.

Moyseos said once they got the go-ahead, a date would be set very shortly.  

According to sources of the Cyprus News Agency, the proposal involves a work stoppage, during which public servants will march towards the Parliament and Finance Ministry where they will hold a mass rally protesting against the measures. 

Apart from their pay and pension cuts, public sector working hours are to be changed to cut down on overtime costs. The troika memo said in addition to these changes, authorities must commission an independent external review of possible further reforms. It said an appropriate system of remuneration and working conditions / conditions of employment in the public sector (e.g. annual vacation leave, sick leave, maternity leave, working time), should in more in line with the private sector and with other EU countries, and based on best practices. 

It also provides for the introduction of a new performance based appraisal system in the public sector, for development and promotion purposes, linking performance with the remuneration system/ increments.

CYPRUS could require up to €10 billion to recapitalise its banks according to a draft deal with international lenders that was released yesterday.

“A bank support facility of up to €10 billion is foreseen under the programme, which will also cover potential future capital needs,” the memorandum said.

The amount is preliminary and could be subject to change as suggested by the brackets surrounding the figure.

The exact amount per bank would be determined in a due diligence exercise. 

Battered by their heavy exposure to debt-stricken Greece, the island’s biggest banks sought state assistance to replenish their capital.

Unable to come up with the cash itself, the government sought a bailout from its EU partners and the IMF.

The bank assistance comes with a series of conditions whose implementation will change the island’s banking sector dramatically. The changes will also affect Cyprus’ cooperative lenders.

“Many of the problems for the sector are home-grown and relate to overexpansion in the property market as consequence of banks' poor risk management practices,” the memorandum said. “Furthermore, the financial sector is vulnerable because of its size relative to that of the domestic economy.”

The administrative hurdles and the legislative framework currently constraining the seizure and sale of loan collateral will be amended such that the property pledged as collateral can be seized within a maximum time-span of 1.5 years from the initiation of legal or administrative proceedings. In the case of primary residences, this time-span could be extended to two years. 

The Central Bank’s guidance on the classification of loans as non-performing will be amended to include all loans past due by more than 90 days. 

The conditions also provide for the creation of accredit register listing all borrowers and beneficial owners, from both commercial banks and cooperative credit institutions, to enable these institutions to identify the borrowers who are or were in arrears.

Authorities will also have to align the regulation and supervision of cooperative credit institutions to that of commercial banks. The supervision of cooperatives will be detached from the Commerce Ministry and integrated into the Central Bank.

In consultation with the EU and the IMF, the Central Bank will ascertain the viability of cooperative credit institutions individually and design a strategy for restructuring viable and resolving non-viable institutions.

Past reports said this would entail cutting down the number of cooperatives from around 95 to 35, mainly through mergers.

The memorandum also calls for creating an asset management company (AMC) to resolve bad assets effectively and reduce the financial sector’s exposure to non-performing and non-core assets.

An AMC or other vehicles will be able to acquire loans and other claims, including foreign exposure from credit institutions in Cyprus that have received or will receive state aid.

SERIOUS concerns were expressed by the President of the Supreme Court Petros Artemis about the backlog of cases facing the courts. In a report, released earlier this week he said that the justice system was in danger of collapsing if measures were not taken to reduce the time it took to process civil, criminal and administrative cases.

The report, endorsed by the Supreme Court was prepared by three judges who found that the “the increase in time delays has recently started to take on alarming proportions.” Efforts to speed up cases had proved ineffective, said the report, referring to the maxim that delaying justice constitutes denying justice. Measures had to be taken immediately in order to turn the situation round the report concluded.

Needless to say, the solution proposed by the Supreme Court envisaged the appointment of at least 20 new judges, with a corresponding increase in courtrooms, court offices and court staff. There was also a need for the computerisation of all court services. But why is the solution always to hire more staff? This might decongest the court system for a few years but it would not be long before the backlog built up again.

Why do the judges not consider other ways of making the dispensation of justice faster? For instance, access to the courts should be restricted. At present everyone who has a €100 dispute with a business associate or a trivial row with a neighbour over the garden wall takes their grievance to the court, helping clog up the system. Perhaps if an individual going to the court had to put down a significant deposit, that he would relinquish if he lost his case – for wasting the court’s time – people would think twice or three times before taking legal action.

Eliminating the time-wasters and trivial cases from the system, would be a more effective way to eventually make the workload of the courts manageable, than appointing more judges. This would be a long-term solution rather than a stop-gap measure to temporarily deal with the backlog, which after a few years would build up again. 

The report also recommended the establishment of an administrative court of first instance so that the Supreme Court did not have to waste its time ruling on inconsequential administrative cases. If a money deposit had to be paid, for appeals to the Supreme Court, we would not have every civil servant or semi-governmental employee who missed out on promotion appealing against the decision. These appeals are usually filed so that the aggrieved public employee can prove a moral point – the executive’s decision is rarely reversed. Should the Supreme Court have to deal with such inconsequential matters? 

We are certain there are many more practical steps that could be taken to help de-congest the courts. Hiring more judges is not the answer as it will not tackle the real problem – people’s insistence on using the courts for the most trivial disputes.

THE government yesterday released the full text of the bailout terms agreed with international lenders, which provides for spending cuts of over €1.2 billion between 2012 and 2016 and widespread reform of the banking and public sectors.

 “All issues in the memorandum have been agreed apart from the amount needed for bank recapitalisation,” Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly said.

The document had been given to parties after receiving the permission of the lenders, collectively known as the troika, and it was not long before it was leaked to the media.

It includes cuts in civil service salaries, allowances and pensions and increases in VAT, tobacco, alcohol and fuel taxes, taxes on lottery winnings, property, and higher health care costs over the next three years. Civil service work hours are also expected to change in a move to cut down on overtime. 

Cyprus and international lenders last week struck a preliminary agreement on the terms of a bailout programme but can only be finalised once the interim results of the due-diligence into the banks’ loan portfolios are known. 

The preliminary due diligence results are expected in early December.

It would then have to be approved by the Eurogroup and by individual member-states.

The Eurogroup is expected to discuss Cyprus on December 3, but a more in-depth discussion is set to take place 10 days later, after the due diligence results become known.

Shiarly said the government will submit to parliament 20 bills related with the memorandum, with the aim of having them approved by December 13.

The bailout, speculated to be around €17 billion, will enable the island to recapitalise its Greece-exposed banking sector and ensure financing for the government at an affordable rate.

But it comes with conditions that will usher in widespread reforms.

The aim of the programme is to restore the soundness of the banking sector “by thoroughly restructuring, resolving and downsizing financial institutions, strengthening of supervision, addressing expected capital shortfall and improving liquidity management,” while correcting excessive government deficit and implementing structural reforms to support competitiveness and sustainable and balanced growth. 

The programme calls for fiscal measures totalling 7.25 per cent of GDP or around €1.2 billion between 2012 and 2016.

It comes with a warning that in the event the goals are not met, the “government should stand ready to take additional measures to preserve the programme objectives, including by reducing discretionary spending.”

“Over the programme period, cash revenues above programme projections, including any windfall gains, will be used to reduce debt. If instead over-performance materialises, to the extent that it is deemed permanent, this can reduce the need for additional measures in the outer years.”

For 2012, the government must achieve a deficit of no more than 5.8 per cent of GDP or around €1.1 billion, according to the memorandum.

To achieve this, the government must immediately implement additional permanent measures of at least €42 million.

Among the immediate measures is the scaled reduction in the salaries of public and broader public sector pensioners and employees: EUR 0-1000: 0 per cent; EUR 1001-1500: 6.5 per cent; EUR 1501-2000: 8.5 per cent; EUR 2001-3000: 9.5 per cent; EUR 3001-4000: 11.5 per cent; above EUR 4001: 12.5 per cent.

The measures include extending a freeze of cost of living allowance payments until the end of 2015 – the duration of the programme, extending the freeze of increments and general wage increases in the public and broader public sector and temporary contribution in the public, broader public and private sectors on gross earnings and pensions by three additional years until 31 December 2016.

Among the revenue measures, the programme provides for updating the 1980's prices by applying the CPI index over 1980 to 2012; and amend tax rates for the value bands. The new rates, which will apply to the updated values, are as follows: For values ??of EUR 0- 150,000 coefficient of 0‰ EUR 150,001- 500,000 -- 6 EUR 500,001- 1,000,000 -- 8‰ and EUR 1,000,001 plus --10‰.

Members of the troika during their recent visit

I have been a loyal customer of Carrefour  here in Cyprus  for several years now and my wife and I do our  shopping at the Polemedia Carrefour  store. We prefer shopping at this Carrefour supermarket because it’s a clean and tidy shop and normally has an excellent range of the UK products we regularly purchase.  

I have however noticed over the last few weeks that a lot  of the UK  products we purchase  have not been available. I really do not understand what is happening, and when I ask the staff no one seems to know. A number of our friends are also experiencing this mysterious lack of availability of  several  UK products in  Carrefour. 

Perhaps someone within the Carrefour Management here in Cyprus can indeed give some answers to this mysterious situation.

G  Dyer, Polemedia

Supreme Court weighs in on cattle farmers 

THE SUPREME Court has given a thumbs up to the Commission for the Protection of Competition (CPC) on its decision to force cattle farmers to supply Pittas Dairies with milk. 

According to yesterday’s Phileleftheros, the top court rejected the argument of the Pancyprian Cattle Farmers’ Organisation (POA) that the CPC decision was taken without reason. 

On the contrary, the decision was fully justifiable, said the court, given POA’s dominant position in the milk market. The court further ruled that POA abused its dominant position by supplying milk to third parties instead of to Pittas, who in turn sold it on to Pittas. 

In August, the CPC ordered POA to supply Pittas Dairies with 65 tonnes of cow milk per day. The order was issued after Pittas filed a complaint against the cattle farmers, who produce around 90 per cent of the milk on the island. The cattle farmers counter-argued that the quota imposed on them meant they had to reduce supplies to other dairy companies.

Ship collides with fish farm 

A MALTESE-flagged vessel called Friendship collided with fish cages off the Vassilikos coastline in the early hours of yesterday morning, causing damage to its propeller while releasing fish into the Mediterranean Sea.  

The maritime accident occurred at 1.40am when the vessel hit the fish farm on its way to the Vassilikos port, causing the cages to break open. At the time of going to press the vessel was remained at the site with parts of the cage and ropes stuck on its propeller. 

The Department of Merchant Shipping is examining the incident. 

Vandals target Lillikas office 

VANDALS defaced a poster promoting the presidential candidate Giorgos Lillikas in Larnaca yesterday, covering it with eggs and expletives. 

According to police, the vandalism was spotted at 8.30am yesterday on a poster outside the Larnaca campaign office of Lillikas on Grivas Dhigenis Avenue. 

The presidential candidate yesterday called for social unity, mutual respect and dialogue in the election campaign. 

“I appeal to all citizens, regardless of political affiliation to ignore this isolated incident and ignore any marginal groups seeking to create artificial sources of tension,” said the EDEK-backed candidate. 

DISY leader in Athens 

DISY LEADER and presidential candidate Nicos Anastasiades left yesterday for Greece where he will hold contacts with the political leadership of the country. 

Anastasiades is due to meet tomorrow with Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, as well as with House Speaker Evangelos Meimarakis and President Karolos Papoulias. He will also meet with Cypriot student organisations before returning to Cyprus tomorrow evening. 

Speaking at Larnaca airport yesterday, Anastasiades said Cyprus could learn from the Greek experience of negotiating with the troika for a third bailout deal. 

Omirou in Beirut 

HOUSE President Yiannakis Omirou leaves tomorrow for Beirut on an official visit at the invitation of his Lebanese counterpart Nabih Berri.

Omirou will be received by Lebanese President General Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Najib Mikati, and have separate meeting with the President of the National Assembly Nabih Berri, Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour, former premier and opposition leader Fouad Siniora and the president of the Progressive Socialist party Walid Jumblatt.

Berri will host an official dinner for Omirou who will also meet the Patriarch of the Maronites Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, the Armenian Patriarch Aram I and the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut Elias Audi.

The House President returns home on Wednesday.

Attempted arson 

A MAN was remanded in custody for four days yesterday in connection with the attempted arson of a bar in Larnaca. According to police, on Thursday night, a perpetrator or perpetrators broke a window in the back of the bar and set a curtain on fire which failed to spread to the rest of the bar, causing €300 worth of damage.  Suspicions were raised about one man in particular from Larnaca who was arrested by police and taken in for questioning.    

A NEW hospice in Mesa Chorio in Paphos will be completed by the end of December and is on course to open its doors early next year.

Currently, the only functioning hospice in the coastal town is the Paphos Friends Hospice, which is situated in a dedicated wing of the Evangelismos hospital.

Archangel Michael Hospice - previously known as the Saint Michael’s hospice - has been an ongoing for close to a decade. Once open, the hospice will offer free palliative care to people with any form of life-limiting illness such as cancer, motor neuron disease, heart failure, end stage respiratory disease and kidney disease.

So far, supporters have raised €2.1 million. Initially, only the top floor of the facility consisting of nine double bedrooms will be in use.

Cameron McDonald the hospice spokesman told the Sunday Mail a team of 20 workers was currently on target to complete works on the interior before Christmas. The lift which will service the building has already been ordered and will be fitted in February. 

McDonald said the health ministry would then complete a final inspection and issue a certificate to operate.

It will cost close to €700,000 a year to run the hospice, which does not currently receive any state funding.

“We have come this far solely with donations and fund raising,” said McDonald, “and we are lucky to have such a great team of enthusiastic volunteers.”

The spokesman said the hospice would be managed by trustees with extensive expertise in business, marketing, healthcare and finance.

He added: “The hospice will be independently managed by a Charitable Trust and this week we received our licence to establish the hospice from the ministry of health.” According to McDonald, the ministry has been extremely helpful and the hospice hopes to get a 20 per cent government grant 

The Archangel Michael Hospice is situated in Mesa Chorio in Paphos and will house the only wing in Cyprus specifically for children.

“There is no other such facility for children and there will be a dedicated area specifically for them,” said McDonald. 

McDonald said that although the entire project would be completed by February 2013, the hospice won’t open immediately.

“We would like to have a six-month buffer of around €300,000 in the bank before we open to ensure everything will run smoothly and we are able to operate without any problems,” he said.

He noted that although a substantial amount of cash had been raised in the last 12 months “this has slowed down recently.” 

The main challenges currently facing the trustees are to ensure that highly qualified staff are in place, including a professional fundraising department. “We will look at getting staff towards the end of the year,” he said.

In addition, a new website to promote the hospice has been launched as well as a campaign. A charity fundraising ball, the details of which are being discussed now, will be held in aid of the hospice in mid January.

For further information: - www.archangel-michael-hospice.com

How the hospice will look inside

SCORES of top secret files relating to the administration of the United Kingdom's colonies may have been destroyed, British MPs were told this week. 

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is unable to confirm whether 170 boxes of classified documents which were returned to the UK at the end of the colonial era have been destroyed.

The admission, by Foreign Office Minister David Lidington, came as files relating to controversial British activities in Kenya and Cyprus were opened to the public.

Attempts by British colonial authorities to cover-up the killings of 11 prisoners during the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya were disclosed in the documents.

Detainees at Hola detention camp were clubbed to death by prison warders after they refused to work but no one was ever prosecuted.

The files showed British officials attempted to blame their deaths on "drinking too much water" rather than violence and refused to identify individuals involved.

The latest documents released also showed colonial officials in Cyprus considered producing adventure comic books and running an essay competition in a propaganda bid to stop young people rebelling against British rule.

Lidington said the documents were the fourth tranche of colonial files to be disclosed, marking the half-way point of the process of transferring the papers to The National Archive.

But he added: "It remains the case that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is still unable to confirm the existence or destruction of 170 boxes of Top Secret colonial administration files known to have been returned to the UK.

"There is some evidence that the Singapore Top Secret colonial administration files were destroyed as part of a review of FCO post files in the 1990s.

"The FCO continues to search for these files or for further evidence of their destruction."

THE ELECTRICITY Authority of Cyprus (EAC) has been ordered to pay out €1.2m in compensation for placing high-voltage electricity pylons on privately-owned land. 

The Appeals Court on Friday overturned a first court decision not to award compensation to the owners of the land in question, instead ordering the EAC to pay €825,000 in compensation plus interest since 2004, taking the total owed above the €1.2m mark. 

According to yesterday’s Phileleftheros, the case centred on land owned by companies that initially refused to allow the EAC to install five electricity pylons on their property. 

The electricity authority bypassed the owners, getting permission from the Limassol District Office on the condition that should the owners choose to commercially develop the land in the future, the EAC would either have to pay to move the pylons elsewhere or proving impossible, pay fair compensation to keep them there. 

When the owners asked for the pylons to be removed, the EAC refused to move them or pay compensation. The land owners sued, losing at first instance but winning the appeal. 

The Appellate Court agreed with the argument that the pylons prevented development on the property and ruled that the owners should be compensated. 

A WOMAN was remanded in custody for eight days yesterday by the Limassol district court in connection with the murder of her 34-year-old husband. 

The 39-year-old Greek Cypriot woman was arrested on Friday night in Kapsalos after police found her Romanian husband Adrian Andritoiu lying dead in a pool of blood in their kitchen. 

According to police, the 34-year-old was fatally stabbed on Friday evening after an argument broke out between him and his wife after she pleaded with him to stop drinking alcohol. The two were preparing to host guests to celebrate the husband’s name day when the argument over his drinking turned violent. 

According to reports, the woman tried to grab the glass from her husband’s hand. He allegedly hit her, and in response, she grabbed the kitchen knife and stabbed him in the chest. 

State pathologist Eleni Antoniou who examined the body said the victim sustained injuries to the left side of his chest where the heart is. 

When police arrived at the scene, they found the husband lying dead in the kitchen, while the wife was found a few metres away from the house in a state of shock. Police confiscated as evidence a kitchen knife and other items from the home which were taken for forensic testing. The couple had been married for three years. The 34-year-old had a daughter from his first marriage who lives in Romania. 

A PUBLIC prosecutor in Glasgow has issued an arrest warrant for a 45-year-old British Cypriot, Michael Voudouri, in connection with charges of money laundering, the Cyprus News Agency reported yesterday. 

Voudouri was due to show up in the Scottish capital’s Supreme Court on Friday to hear what his sentence will be after pleading guilty to two cases of money laundering. 

A month ago, the 45-year-old had confessed to hiding over £10 million (€12.3m) in accounts in Cyprus, Greece and Switzerland which had come from the collection of VAT on intra-European virtual transactions.

The British Cypriot originally faced charges of money laundering involving £45m (€55.5m) though this figure was reduced after his confession. 

He also pleaded guilty to a separate charge of hiding £1.2 million (€1.5m) from the taxman. 

He was released on bail with restrictions after agreeing to collaborate with the public prosecution, though failed to turn up to Friday’s hearing. 

Voudouris was previously sentenced to four years in jail in 2004 on similar charges while in 2008 a court ordered him to return £1.3m (€1.6m) obtained illegally.

AN ELDERLY woman from Limassol has been conned out of €30,000 by another woman claiming to be her granddaughter. Police warned the public to be extra vigilant during these times of economic crisis, predicting more scams of this nature to come. 

According to Limassol CID chief Ioannis Soteriades, a 72-year-old woman living in Episkopi in the Limassol District was contacted by a younger woman last Monday pretending to be her granddaughter who lives in Larnaca. 

The woman told the pensioner that she has a serious health problem and needs €20,000 to travel abroad urgently for surgery.  

Falling for the scam, the 72-year-old put the money in an envelope and gave it to a taxi driver to take to Larnaca Airport where the supposed granddaughter was due to depart from.

The following day, the grandmother received another phone call from the woman saying there were complications with the surgery and could she send another €10,000 by taxi, which the pensioner did. 

On Friday, the 72-year-old’s real granddaughter called her to wish her a happy name day, at which point the grandmother came to the realisation that she had been well and truly conned. 

Soteriades said police located and questioned the taxi driver who had transported the money. Police released him after questioning, coming to the conclusion that he was not involved in the scam. 

The authorities are now looking for the confidence trickster and the €30,000. The woman is described as being of thin build, 1.65m in height with brown hair down to her shoulders. 

The Limassol CID chief called on the public to be extra cautious and not to be duped easily by potential scams. 

“With the economic crisis, these phenomena of deception will likely grow so we call on the public to be extra careful,” he said. 

YOU HAVE to give credit to our commie rulers for the artful way in which they set the political trends. Months of relentless campaigning have finally paid off and bashing the banks has finally become terribly fashionable for the political class which is always looking for a safe target, preferably one that cannot fight back, to take shots at.

On Tuesday the first meeting of the House Institutions committee, called to investigate the causes of the banking collapse and those responsible, was held. As expected it evolved into the familiar circus with all deputies joining in the bank-bashing, in the hope their sound-bites would earn them a mention on the TV news.

Committee chairman, Demetris Syllouris, who came up with the brilliant populist idea for the investigation, milked the bank cow for all it was worth, appearing on radio and television shows on which he stressed his determination to expose anyone who had received a loan at a preferential rate or had a debt written off by the bank. 

For now, people who have bank accounts are safe, but if Syllouris’ investigation is as thorough as he claims it would be it might not be long before account-holders are hauled before the House committee to explain why they did business with the criminal banks.

THE TREND-setting, bank-bashers of AKEL used this circus to remind us that the former governor of the Central Bank Athanasios Orphanides was to blame for all the woes of the banking sector. 

Its new deputy Bambos Papageorgiou, who only joined the party last year, is acting like he always had AKEL DNA in his genes, bringing up the hard-drive of the CB that Orph had allegedly not returned. By not giving all the information regarding the matter Bambos, makes it sound as if Orph was guilty of some serious crime.

The other new AKEL deputy, former TV diva, Irini Charalambidou, stood before the TV cameras and, apart from mentioning the hard-drive crime, revealed what she claimed to be a major scandal involving Orph. When he was governor, he had abused his position to secure a housing loan from the CB at an interest rate below 1.0 per cent. Was this legal, she asked.

Were Irini and Bambos (he also mentioned the low-interest loans) just ignorant or were they engaging in the time-honoured Stalinist tactic of character assassination through misinformation?

Orph was entitled to the low interest loan as part of his contract. Did Bambos as a member of the CB council not know that this was a perk of working for the CB enjoyed by all governors and senior ranking members of the bank? The perk was offered so CB staff did not go to commercial banks, which they had to regulate, for loans.

When this was pointed out the following day the AKEL propaganda machinery forgot the scandal of the loan and started the tune about Orph’s inadequate regulation of the banks.

THE ANDROID put this pseudo-scandal in its proper moral context on Friday, saying it was unacceptable that at “a time the country was facing so many big difficulties some (Orph) were taking advantage of the super-privileges given to them by their contract,” to secure a low-interest loan, “without a guilty conscience.”

And at a time the country is facing so many big difficulties why does comrade Tof take advantage of the super-privilege given to him by his contract and collect the €200 per diem allowance when he is abroad, despite the fact all his expenses were being paid by the taxpayer? At least Orph will pay back the loan.

When the B of C wrote off debts of AKEL companies worth €10 million it was good practice, but when someone takes a loan on a low interest he is entitled to, he acting immorally.

THE COMMIES’ audacity and hypocrisy pale when compared to that of Andreas Vgenopoulos, the former executive chairman of Popular Bank, who was in town last week to appear on the TV show of the hard-hitting hack and plagiarist, Chrysanthos Tsououroullis.

The man who led Popular Bank to bankruptcy was in fine form, the blued-eyed boy of Cyprus TV giving him free rein to do what he is very good at – taking the Cypriot public for a ride. Vgen blamed Orph, of course for Laiki’s woes. 

If the former Governor did not force the Greek shyster to step down as chairman, he would have dealt with the crisis, claimed Vgen. He also wondered how Laiki’s re-capitalisation needs of €800 million had soared to €4 billion, after his departure.

Obviously, the new management was not as good as him at hiding losses and non-performing loans or at fooling shareholders.

VGEN’S biggest cheerleader and fan, the head of the bank employees’ union ETYK, Loizos Hadjicostis, has learnt a few tricks from his former hero. In an interview in last Sunday’s Politis, the union boss denied having any responsibility for anything, even though an ETYK rep sat on the boards of both the big banks.

He also denied having honoured Vgen, when he left Laiki. “There was an event in Greece and we were also present,” he said. Hadjicostis did offer Vgen an ETYK plaque and praised him to high heaven during the ceremony, but at that time “everyone was thanking him.” He told the interviewer he knew nothing about the problems at Laiki.

To be fair, Hadjicostis had every reason to publicly praise Vgen, because it was under Vgen’s catastrophic management that Laiki employed the union leader’s daughter. His other daughter works for the B of C. Of course both were hired not because of their dad, but because they got top marks in the entrance exams.

STAYING on the issue of banks, we have to mention Yiorkos Lillikas’ latest brilliant idea that would allow us to avoid the bailout. The government should consider the possibility of securing the re-capitalisation of the banks “from private capital or other sources, thus avoiding the very high lending rates proposed by the troika, that would be shouldered by working people.”

This idea is as brilliant as the one he came up with regarding the selling of shares in our natural gas resources, which he scientifically estimated to be worth €80 billion. As regarding the banks, did nobody inform him that the banks’ search for private capital had proved unsuccessful? 

The most interesting part of his statement was that if we failed to re-capitalise the banks with private capital, we could do it “from other sources”? Which are these “other sources”? I would really like Yiorkos to name one “other source,” apart from private capital, that could re-capitalise the banks. 

ONE WAY of promoting the myth of AKEL as the arbiter of everything that is good in our society is through the awarding of prizes. The commies have annual awards for ‘cultural contribution’ and ‘sports contribution’ to our society which go to people who are either card-carrying Akelites or party sympathisers. 

The awards are named after loyal commie apparatchiks and usually reward mediocrities for their mediocre work, in keeping with communist abhorrence of individual excellence and originality.

Ten days ago, Harvghi reported, at a ‘modest ceremony,’ the 2012 ‘Costas Lymbouris and Niki Georgiou Award for contribution to sport’ was given to Charalambos Koukoularides, who was unable to attend the ceremony, as he is no longer with us. The party could not find someone living who contributed to sport so it decided to give the award to a dead man.

Koukoularides made his award-deserving, contribution to sport as the general manager of the Cyprus Sport Federation (KOA) which is a bit like giving an award to the head of Cyta for his contribution to telecommunications. It just seems a bit silly to give someone who is dead an award for doing the job he was handsomely paid to do when he was alive.

READING the report about the ceremony in the party mouthpiece, I did not get the impression that he contributed very much to sport anyway. In giving the award, party chief Andros said Koukoularides “is a model fighter of democracy and freedom as well as a model teacher and sport official. Imbued with deep patriotism and adherence to principles, with his struggle he won a place in the conscience of the people.”

But how did he contribute to sport? Did he set a pancyprian record in the 100-metre patriotism sprint or in the high principles jump? The Android tried to explain the reasoning behind the decision at the ceremony and it had nothing to do with sport.

“This prize that we award him is the least that a man, who defended values and ideals all his life, deserves. He was modest and an ideologue.” With such personal qualities Koukoularides’ big contribution to Kyproulla sport is indisputable.

BEFORE we receive a letter of complaint from his family, about our inference that Koukoularides was an Akelite, we would like to make it clear that he was not. He was a DIKO man and close associate of the late, great Spy Kyp, who was also on very good terms with the commies. 

One thing not mentioned during the award ceremony and not featured in the video about his life, was that some years ago a big arms cache was discovered in Koukoularides’ house in Galata. He was storing the guns, since the days of Makarios, in case the need arose to make an even bigger contribution to sport.

I AM GLAD to see that crazy shrink Yiangos Mikellides, after his long illness, has made a full recovery and has lost none of his spirit. In last week’s column he wondered how the “smart accountants” of the troika would discipline “all the nutters, thieves, bribery-takers whose only interest is to snatch the food from the mouth of the Cypriot people.”

He had an answer. “All these people should be arrested and through summary procedures, outside the courts, be executed by the dozen. And once a good number are executed, I believe the economic situation would improve and the recession would belong to the past.”

ONLY 74 days left for the departure of the comrade and his ugly entourage of propagandists.

HOPES that things would calm down after the memorandum of understanding was agreed with the troika have proved wishful thinking. While the political parties appeared have toned down their rhetoric, by a notch or two, Friday’s publication of the memorandum seems to have re-kindled the defiant populism that we had been served for months now. 

On a plus point, Friday’s meeting of the big unions – PEO, SEK and PASYDY – suggested they did not plan to cause too much trouble, their only decision being to stage a work stoppage of couple of hours during which workers would march to the legislature. It is a mild reaction, indicating they have come to terms with the need for a bailout. The same could not be said of the teaching unions, which have been making all types of threats in their militant-sounding announcements, but on their own they are unlikely to have much impact.

Then again, it was the two big unions, PEO and SEK, which organised Thursday’s protest by several hundred casual labourers employed by the government that turned into a mini-riot. It showed how things could get out of control, even though this was not the intention of the unions. Angry labourers first invaded the finance ministry, seeking a meeting with the minister before storming the House of Representatives and demanding that the decision not to renew their contracts was rescinded. Neither the police nor the union organisers could stop them when they decided to enter the House en masse.

Speaking on a radio show the next morning, a union official could not resist blaming the troika for the decision not to renew the contracts of a thousand casual workers; this would save €9 million a year. Blaming the troika is the easy option for union leaders who purposely ignore the fact that troika officials set savings target and it is up to the government technocrats to decide how these would be realised. If the government proposed saving the amount by docking an additional two per cent from the wages of the top-earning public employees, the troika would not have objected.

We mention this because the widespread practice of putting the blame on the troika must stop. It creates unjustified public anger and resentment that could lead to more violent behaviour than was witnessed at the legislature on Thursday. It is high time the government accepted responsibility for the bailout agreement and explained to the people that the troika was not our enemy – admittedly difficult after the president and his associates publicly branded the IMF, ECB and the Commission ‘neo-colonialists’, ‘enemies of the working people’ etc – but was essentially helping the government secure loans it desperately needed.

The troika technocrats were here to help us take the necessary measures that would convince our lenders that we would be in a position to repay the loan our economy needed to avoid collapse and bankruptcy. Without the spending cuts, higher taxation and reform of structural weaknesses envisaged by the bailout we would not be able to borrow money from anywhere and our banks would be unable to draw liquidity. And the troika team would argue our case as regards the loan at European working groups. In short, we should be treating it as an ally.

This might be too much to expect from President Christofias who is dogmatically opposed to pay cuts and has made a big contribution to the public demonisation of the troika. But he would be doing the country a big service and helping our effort to secure European approval for the bailout if he took a positive approach in his address to the people, scheduled for this week. If he cannot bring himself to be constructive, and plans on repeating his negative sentiments, it would be much better not to make his address.

Apart from rousing public anger and encouraging anti-bailout protests, negative comments are unlikely to go down well with our lenders who start discussing the Cyprus bailout at tomorrow’s Euro Group meeting. The Group will meet again 10 days later, when the interim Pimco report on the bank re-capitalisation needs would be ready, but whether it would give its approval then nobody knows. A decision might be put off, additional changes could be made to the memorandum or, ideally, it would be approved. If all goes well, the approval of national parliaments would also be required.

Organising public protests against the bailout, heaping abuse on the troika, attacking the ‘neo-liberal’ measures could put at risk the approval of the bailout. We cannot even afford delays in the approval, which is why we need to do everything in our power not to alienate our lenders. It is time for everyone that influences public opinion, from the president down, to  show a heightened sense of responsibility, urging restraint and making it clear that the bailout, unpopular as it may be, is our only option.

THE DRAFT memorandum outlining the bailout terms agreed with international lenders is “the best we could get under the circumstances”, said Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly yesterday. 

Speaking to the Sunday Mail, Shiarly said the “bold” structural changes the country will be forced to implement under the bailout agreement will bring much-needed reform, acting as a “positive” force for change which will bring “benefit” to Cyprus.  

The government released on Friday the full text of the bailout terms, which provide for spending cuts of over €1.2 billion between 2012 and 2016 and widespread reform of the banking and public sectors.

The draft memorandum includes cuts in civil service salaries, allowances and pensions and increases in VAT, tobacco, alcohol and fuel taxes, taxes on lottery winnings, property, and higher health care costs over the next three years. Part of the massive restructuring to take place includes changes to civil service work hours in a move to cut down on overtime. 

Cyprus and international lenders known as the troika struck a preliminary agreement on the terms of a bailout programme last week which will be discussed in a Eurogroup meeting tomorrow, but can only be finalised once the interim results of the due-diligence into the banks’ loan portfolios are known. 

Reports suggest the Eurogroup will convene a special meeting mid-December to discuss in greater depth Cyprus’ request for financial assistance after the due-diligence results are out. 

Shiarly yesterday highlighted that Cyprus still has a long and difficult way to go until the memorandum is finalised as the contents have to be agreed by all countries of the Eurozone, including the sometimes cantankerous parliaments of Germany and Finland. 

In an effort to stave off changes that could be considered negative for the country, Cyprus will argue that its problems were imported from Greece, and seek solidarity from the Eurogroup members. 

Reactions to the bailout memo were mixed yesterday, with parties and unions calling the terms “painful” and even avoidable. 

For his part, Shiarly said: “You have to look at the overall picture, in the circumstances of Cyprus, (the memorandum) is the best we could achieve, and we have to plod on to the next stage.

“Of course people have the right to express a view. It’s not easy to propose wage reductions, increasing taxes, on the other hand, the structural changes being proposed both in the financial, fiscal sector and in general are necessary, and long overdue in some respects.”  

Asked whether Cyprus would succeed in implementing some of the sweeping structural changes on time, he said: “It’s a very bold step. Cyprus has had a need for restructuring over a long period of time, everyone recognises that. If I correctly interpret the reaction of the parties in parliament and the house finance committee, the reaction I received was a favourable one, that on balance, it was a good package for the benefit of the country, though not for specific sectors.”

He added: “Overall, it is a bold attempt, and the end result is expected to be positive for Cyprus.” 

The government will submit to parliament 20 bills related with the memorandum, with the aim of having them approved by December 13.

Shiarly argued that based on his consultations with parliament, MPs have undertaken to push the bills through within the next two weeks. 

Asked whether there was a risk of the government not being able to push through what it promised it would in return for billions in bailout money, the finance minister said up till now, parliament has acted very responsibly and unanimously, giving as example the bills passed regarding the recapitalisation of Liaki Bank for €1.8 billion and two other bills increasing government guarantees to the banking sector.  

Meanwhile, DIKO spokesman Fotis Fotiou yesterday accused the government of indecisiveness and of bringing the country to face the tragic dilemma of having to decide between a memorandum or bankruptcy. 

“We are certain we could have avoided the memorandum,” said Fotiou, who described the terms as “tough, burdensome and painful”.  

EDEK leader Yiannakis Omirou also blamed the government for the economic situation and for not taking decisions on time. The banking system had to be hanging by a thread before the government decided to take a decision, he argued in a speech before his party’s central committee, 

Government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou yesterday accused Omirou of “once again giving a misleading picture” on the reasons Cyprus requested a bailout in the first place. 

Everybody in Europe acknowledged that the situation in Cyprus is “collateral damage” as a result of the negative developments in the Greek economy, he said.

Main opposition party DISY said it would examine the memorandum in depth and respond accordingly. A released statement noted not many options were left on the table following “the misfiring, delayed and unassertive handling of public finances in recent years”.  

EVROKO leader Demetris Syllouris said: “No one can be happy with the contents of the memorandum”. However, he warned those presidential candidates claiming they can change the draft agreement not to mislead the public.  

Ruling AKEL leader Andros Kyprianou yesterday called on the inland revenue department to do more to tackle tax evasion and reduce the burden of state finances on the public.  

Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly said government did the best it could