A GREEK court of appeals yesterday upheld a 10-year prison sentence for three executives found responsible for a 2005 Cypriot airliner crash, which killed all 121 passengers and crew on board, but gave them the option to buy-out their convictions for some €76,000 each.

The Athens court acquitted a fourth defendant, a British engineer who had carried out the final checks on the aircraft before the fatal August 14 flight.

The three, Helios’ managing director Demetris Pantazis, flight operations manager Giorgos Kikkides, and Bulgarian chief pilot Ianko Stoimenov, were found guilty of negligent manslaughter, a misdemeanour.

The court also granted a defence demand for the sentence to be converted into a monetary penalty, something allowed by the Greek justice system for misdemeanours. 

The price was set at some €21 per day for 10 years. Relatives appeared satisfied with the conviction, saying that the sentence conversion had been expected.

“The essence is that they have been convicted, they have been found guilty,” said Nicolas Yiasoumi, chairman of the relatives’ association. “Naturally we would have wanted a criminal procedure and higher sentences but this is what we have.”

However, the decision could complicate legal proceedings in Cyprus where the Supreme Court ordered a retrial after the Nicosia Criminal Court acquitted the defendants, which also included Helios Airways as a legal, entity and executive chairman at the time Andreas Drakos.

The British engineer Alan Irwin was not put on trial in Cyprus.

The trial in Greece – the site of the crash -- began in December 2011, shortly after the Cypriot court’s decision to acquit.

Lawyer Yiannakis Ioannou, who represented the relatives in Greece, said yesterday’s decision must be rendered irrevocable to have any gravity in Cyprus.

Legal circles have been citing the issue of double jeopardy, which forbids a defendant from being tried again on the same (or similar) charges following a legitimate acquittal or conviction.

For this to happen, the three executives must appeal the decision with Greece’s Supreme Court, which will have the final say either way.

Or they could opt to drop the case by accepting their sentence.

“I believe the defence lawyers may opt to give up, which will result in making the decision irrevocable,” Ioannou said. “In my view, no court will be able to deal with the case (after that).”

Ioannou however, suggested that Cyprus could still go after the defunct company’s chairman.

That will be the relatives’ demand from now on, if the developments in Greece mean that Cyprus cannot put the three on trial.

“Maybe the fourth one should be tried in Cyprus and that is where the issue lies now,” Yiasoumis said. “Our justice system must assume its responsibilities … so that the procedure goes ahead for the fourth defendant.”

The crash of flight ZU522 was the deadliest aviation disaster in Greece and Cyprus. The Boeing 737-300 slammed into a hillside at Grammatikos, near Athens, killing all 115 passengers and six crew.

In an October 2006 report on the crash, Greek investigators cited human error as the main cause of the crash, saying the pilots had left cabin pressure controls at an incorrect setting.

Passengers and crew were starved of oxygen due to problems in the cabin pressurisation, while the aircraft subsequently crashed into the hill after running out of fuel. 

The report also cited Boeing for “ineffectiveness of measures”, since the same alarm was used for two different problems, resulting in the pilots misinterpreting the information.

A 2006 independent inquiry into the crash found that although the pilots were directly responsible for the crash, the airline as well as civil aviation officers were criminally liable.

The full findings of the inquiry, carried out by former judge Panayiotis Kallis, were only made public in December 2011.

The 170-page report had been placed under the care of the Cabinet, the body that appointed the panel, and kept from the public eye since.

The panel was appointed back in 2006 to investigate both the underlying and immediate causes of the crash. 

Award winning author and artist Niki Marangou died on Thursday in a car accident in Egypt. She was one of three passengers in a car driven by a local man who crashed under unknown circumstances just off Faiyum, south west of the capital Cairo. One other woman has died, and another woman was injured. Marangou was the only Cypriot passenger in the car. 

Marangou was born in Limassol in 1948 and studied sociology in Germany before working as a dramaturge at the Cyprus Theatre Organisation as well as managing her own bookshop. She was an active author and artist and was respected for her intellectual depth, continuous learning, and her interest in inspiring younger generations of women.

"We have lost a wonderful person," foreign minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis said. 

"Her death is truly a tragedy."

Marcoullis said authorities in Egypt had ruled out criminal intent with regards to the accident, but Egyptian police had not as of Friday afternoon filed a report. 

Marangou's family were due to travel to Egypt today.

ONE IN twelve businesses is family-run in Cyprus compared to one in 250 in the UK according to consultant Paul Thomas, who will be holding a seminar in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce this coming week on the challenges of managing a family business in times of austerity. 

All businesses will look for ways to protect themselves against the difficult trading conditions and family businesses need to take advantage of the special circumstances they find themselves in says Thomas. In his seminar, he will argue that the family business needs to build on the loyalty and dedication that comes from being run by people who share the business name and see long term survival for the benefit of the family owners as their prime concern.

“The family business has some advantages when it comes to coping with times of crisis,” he said. “But these should not be taken for granted. Inter-generational relationships will still prove difficult and succession planning will remain a critical test for the success of the business.” 

Why would an Englishman from Rugby be interested in helping family businesses and why in Cyprus you may ask? Thomas first visited in 1992 as a consultant, working with the Chamber of Commerce (KEVE), and has since bought a flat in Nicosia and spends around five months in Cyprus a year. 

“I fell in love with the island and as soon as I got back to England, after my first visit, I told my wife that I was going to start a business in here,” Thomas said. 

He started his career as an engineering apprentice in the car industry before studying for a PhD at Cardiff University. Following a period with British Steel as a line manager, he moved into project management in the construction industry. This led to general management posts, first in engineering, then in the broader and more complex role of managing a life assurance company. He has been operating as a consultant to commerce and industry since 1983.

Thomas runs 15 different seminars, continually adding new aspects to make them more relevant. 

“Whatever the outcome of the troika intervention, there is no doubt that Cyprus is heading for times of increased austerity as the recession deepens,” he said. “In those circumstances, all businesses will face pressures to control costs and increase revenues.”

The seminars, taking place on Wednesday and Thursday, are aimed at all those who have an interest in a family business and who are worried about how the business operates at present and how it will grow in the future. “The programme will help such people to plan a strategy for the operation of their business in a logical and objective way,” Thomas explained. “It will allow the delegates to take a step back and look at the future of their business through someone else’s eyes.”

Thomas hopes that by the end of the programme, delegates will be in a position to build on the unique relationships within a family business, to exploit the benefits of having the family name above the door and to cope with the problems that can come from inter-generational, sibling and cousin rivalry. The programme should also help people identify their own personality preferences and how to improve communication with the family and with others but also to evaluate the potential impact of the recession on their business and establish ways for the family to alleviate the effects. 

“I hope after the seminar, people will be able to take control of their cash flow by exploiting the power of the family working together and also to look at ways to reduce their costs,” Thomas explained. 

“Hopefully they will then be able to review their systems and procedures to improve effectiveness, identify opportunities to grow their business and develop a survival and growth strategy to cope with the developing recession.” 

The Seminar will be held at the Hilton Park Hotel, Nicosia on Weds and Thurs, February 13 and 14, 8.30am-5.30 pm. Contact Christos Pantelis KEVE 22 889715

Paul Thomas helping family run businesses

THE days of rummaging around in bargain bins of tangled up secondhand clothes in a musty-smelling shop are long gone, at least for customers at a newly opened store in Paphos.

At Revival, designer labels, many of them never worn, such as Prada, Guess, Jasper Conran, Diesel, Miss Sixty, Coast, Gucci and Dolce and Gabbana hang from immaculate rails and sell for a fraction of what you could expect to pay in a boutique.

Such has been the success of the fashion store which specialises in pre-owned clothes and accessories that it has recently moved to far larger premises from the cramped shop opened six years ago in Kato Paphos by Judith Evans.

“We turned away so many items, but we have such good stock that we needed bigger and better premises to show it all off properly,” she said.

Evans started off Revival as a dress agency, selling items for customers and then taking a small percentage of the selling price. Now, Revival pays a customer directly for nearly new items and then sells them. 

“We pay a small amount of cash and we take the risk; it saves people the trouble of getting a stall at a car boot sale or a market to sell their items,” she said.

The swish new store on one of the main roads in Paphos looks sleek and stylish and doesn’t fit any pre-conceived image of a store selling previously owned items.

The long glassed shop frontage is full of mannequins expertly decked out in fashionable outfits and a set of large glass doors which wouldn’t be out of place in Knightsbridge.

And inside is no different. The store smells clean and welcoming, the white walls showing off the 25 or so rails of colour coordinated clothes. The stock is well spaced with plenty of room to browse the plethora of items on offer, which include jeans, trousers, skirts, dresses, tops, sweaters, coats, jackets, shoes, boots, bags and accessories.

It’s hard to believe that many of these items are pre-owned although around 60 or 70 per cent of the collection is what could be classed as ‘brand new’ as it has never been worn.

“We maintain very high standards here; we don’t accept clothes with any marks or faults and they are all like new,” said Evans. “We don’t compromise and our customers expect quality.”

The Paphos businesswoman who also owns the local newspaper, The Paphos Post, moved to Cyprus with her husband Mark ten years ago after falling in love with the island whilst on holiday.

The self-confessed lover of clothes has always been interested in fashion and design and also creates some of her own pieces.

“I chop things up and shift them about and add other bits, when I feel inspired,” she said.

Revival is something completely different for Paphos; selling top quality clothes at a fraction of the price of other stores. 

“Our philosophy is to offer the best quality and value for money and to create an environment where women can fully enjoy the shopping experience,” she said.

And just because people are saving on the price, Evans says it’s important to her that customers understand that they’re not skimping on quality or service.

“Most of the clothes we sell still have the original labels attached and have never been worn; about sixty to seventy per cent of the stock falls into this category.”

As well as designer labels, the shop sells other well-known names such as Marks and Spencer Per Una and Debenhams, which are also popular, and only new shoes are accepted.

The businesswoman has come a long way since opening her first shop in Paphos six years ago.

She said: “I had a shop but no stock to fill it so I put an advert in the paper for ladies’ clothes and I went round by appointment looking through women’s wardrobes.”

From the start, Evans was a stickler for quality, ensuring nothing slipped past her. No missing buttons, marks, scuffs or stains were allowed. 

Originally taking up 80m2, the shop now fills a 200m2 space; Evans has built up a regular customer base, who visit the shop most days to browse through the racks, as new items are added almost daily.

“The new shop looks fantastic and when people come for the first time, some don’t realise that most of the cloth are pre-owned, although obviously we do tell them,” she said.

Clothes available usually range in size from 6-20, and are suitable for all ages and every occasion.

Customers are encouraged to browse through the stock without being ‘jumped on’ and they don’t have to buy anything.

“There’s no hard sell here,” said Evans.

Some of the customers travel to Paphos from Larnaca, Nicosia and Limassol, specifically to come to the shop.

“They often leave laden down with bags. I get such a buzz seeing people trying things on and then loving them - feeling like a million dollars, but spending thirty euros,” she said.

Revival, 160 Mesogi Avenue, Mesogi, Paphos Tel: 26 632564

Judith Evans in her shop

JUST over a year ago, a Turkish Cypriot cross-party ‘parliamentary’ committee concluded an investigation into whether police in the north used torture in their prisons and police stations. 

The investigation had come after a spate of shocking reports in the Turkish Cypriot media claiming police were torturing suspects and convicts with apparent impunity. Blood-curdling stories had made their way into the press, highlighting such methods as the use of electric shocks, beatings with the notorious falaka, sexual abuse and humiliation, and even rape. These methods had been used, the stories said, either to extract confessions or to dish out extra-judiciary punishment to prisoners and suspects.

But over a year after the findings were first published, along with a list of police officers the committee wanted to see investigated for their alleged involvement in torture, nothing has changed. 

“The system is functioning to protect the torturers,” human rights lawyer Oncel Polili told the Sunday Mail this week. 

“The parliamentary committee established that torture was being used in the north of Cyprus, but there have been no serious efforts to write or implement a law distinguishing between torture and other forms of violence,” he added. Without this distinction, he says, there is no way to combat the problem, at least not from a legal position. 

Among the most notorious cases of alleged police torture was that of Fatih Demirel who was arrested in June 2011 accused of child molestation. He was later released without charge, but not before police had allegedly beaten and raped him in a series of assaults that left him hospitalised for weeks with internal and external injuries. 

Demirel is still battling the  courts in an attempt to gain compensation for the injuries he received. However, his lawyer Tekin Soylemez told the Mail this week that Demirel’s case has been “deliberately and repeatedly delayed” by the police and the courts, primarily because there is no actual law against torture.

To be fair to the politicians, creating such a law may not be as easy as their critics might claim.

As leading human rights lawyer Emine Colak told the Sunday Mail, much of the problem stems from the fact that the police in northern Cyprus remain, as they have done since 1974, under the direct command of the Turkish military in Ankara. The result is that police feel little compunction to respond to criticism from civilian sources, including the ‘government’ . 

“We have written many times to the police and military asking for information or reaction to cases, and they do not even bother to reply. There is a hard shell that surrounds them that is very hard to break through. We got one response once from the police on an alleged torture case, but all we got was a letter stating that torture had not taken place,” she told the Mail. 

The military in northern Cyprus, she said, remains “over confident” that it won’t face repercussions. Comparing the north of Cyprus with Turkey, where significant inroads have been made in bringing police accused of torture to account, Colak said: “They [police] have an easier time of it in north Cyprus; the [civilian] leadership here is more passive and the system [that of the military being in ultimate charge] is more entrenched. Moreover, in Turkey the police are not under military control, even today in areas where Turkish forces and Kurdish separatists often clash.

Colak describes a similar silent approach when the military is approached over other human rights issues. Property claims (whether involving Greek or Turkish Cypriots) over lands expropriated by the Turkish army during and after the 1974 invasion are handed back to the civilian ‘authorities’ without any serious engagement.

“They simply tell us that if the claimant is due compensation, it should be paid by the civilian authorities. It seems they are reluctant to relinquish anything, even if it comes at great cost to the civilian authorities,” she said. 

“Nobody stands up to the military here,” she concluded, adding that despite the democratic changes that have taken place in Turkey, which many see as having made significant inroads toward becoming a civilian rather than military state, nothing has changed in this respect in the north of Cyprus.

But although Colak might believe Ankara is at least partly to blame for this regressive state of affairs in the north, she believes the ‘government’ in power in the north does nothing to improve matters, even when it can.

“We have a right-wing nationalist government here, which is not in the habit of standing up to the military. On the contrary, they have a culture of respect and admiration for the military,” she says. 

Not only have there been no repercussions for the Turkish Cypriot police on the matter of torture, the force also appears to be taking an increasingly heavy-handed approach toward public political dissent in general. 

Last week the force announced the purchase of a vehicle designed purely for policing urban unrest amid widespread criticism that levels of recruitment were so high that the force could effectively police a population twice that of the north. Moreover, the announcement of the police’s planned purchase of the Armoured Public Disorder Vehicle - which is bulletproof and can spray protesters with either water, foam or bullets - might have passed unnoticed had it not been for the growing number of anti-austerity demonstrations currently taking place, and at which police appear to be under orders to unleash hitherto unprecedented levels of force to prevent demonstrators from “insulting Ankara”. 

Polili says the purchase comes as a direct result of  “an increase in the number of demonstrations taking place, mainly over the austerity measures being implemented by the authorities, but also over environmental issues”.

Colak goes further, saying, “The fear here is that this is preparation for a clampdown on demonstrations,” and added that she viewed the future with concern.

“My personal view is that they want this vehicle so that demonstrators do not end up face to face with police, many of whom they could know personally,” she says. The preponderance of mobile phones with cameras that could be used to implicate individual policemen is also something Colak believes the police might have taken into account when purchasing a vehicle that would “put itself between the police and the demonstrators”.

Colak says she is convinced Ankara is only partly to blame for the gulf that is growing between the people and their ‘state’ in the north. 

“People are feeling more and more that the Turkish Cypriot leadership is using the state mechanism for its own benefit and that it is totally insensitive to the needs of the people,” she says and adds: “There was a time when we felt the wind of change blowing here. Not any more.”

Turkish Cypriot police under the thumb of the Turkish military

POLICE arrested two people in Larnaca yesterday in relation to an ATM bank card fraud worth €16,000.

A Greek Cypriot man, 38, and a 19-year-old Bulgarian woman were arrested after a bank complained earlier this week that unknown people had installed a mechanism on one of their ATMs at a Larnaca branch in the beginning of the month, Larnaca police spokesman Christos Andreou said. 

The scammers managed to get data off at least 24 bank cards, using the information in Latin America’s Dominican Republic where they withdrew €16,000 on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, Andreou said.

Police obtained a witness statement against the Greek Cypriot and arrested him on the strength of a search warrant yesterday. Police confiscated from the man’s house some 30 blank bank cards, ten bank card swipe machines, and a computer.

Police believe the 19-year-old is implicated in the case, Andreou said without clarifying what her connection was to the 38-year-old.

Both are due to appear to Larnaca district court today for a remand hearing.

Andreou told Larnaca press agency that other banks in Larnaca suspected fraud, with police able to offer more information on this next week. 

Police urged people to be careful when using ATMs and check for possible tampering.

PRESIDENT Demetris Christofias yesterday lay the foundation stone for a huge development work, including golf courses, at Limni, near Polis Chrysochous in Paphos, and while it is seen to be a huge boost to the economy, environmental groups say works will endanger the turtle population.

The Shacolas Group, the biggest private commercial group in Cyprus, plans to develop about three million square metres in Limni, the site of the now defunct copper mines. There are plans for two 18-hole golf courses, a five star hotel, a wellness centre, luxury residences, a historical museum and an information centre on the turtles, cycle paths, and a helipad, among others. 

Christofias said yesterday that buying the site of the disused mines in 1983 showed “entrepreneurial foresight,” which will now rejuvenate the area and attract high quality visitors. 

 “Works such as the one here in Limni are crucially important for the island under these harsh financial circumstances. We hope that such development works give the Cyprus economy a push,” Christofias said.

The man behind the project, Nicos Shacolas, said he was very touched to be developing a beautiful area with the support of local stakeholders. He said he would put together a small “viable” airline to serve Paphos, and nurture the development. 

But despite statements that the natural environment was being protected, the Green party warned yesterday that the works would impact the breeding sites of the loggerhead turtle.Thousands of turtles come to breed in the area, with many laying their nests across a 13km long coastline stretch in the Polis-Yialia region, part of the EU’s NATURA 2000 protection network.

Non-governmental organisation Terra Cypria raised concerns with the European Commission in a 2011 report, warning that the width of the protected coastal area was not enough to protect the turtles. The width was on average 100 metres instead of 500 metres as it was originally proposed, the conservation group said. Terra Cypria said the turtles could not be protected because the protected site was too small, measures to protect the environment were inadequate, and because of plans to build golf courses and luxury villas. 

A range of issues arise from major development works of that size as human activity inevitably impinges on the environment, said environment commissioner Charalambos Theopemptou. Golf courses require huge qualities of water, the use of herbicides which raises worries over groundwater pollution, and building luxury residences is an added burden on the environment, Theopemptou said.

But stakeholders, including the local authorities, have hailed growth. Polis Chrysochous mayor, Angelos Georgiou, said yesterday that the Limni project would create hundreds of job positions, attract businesses and revitalise tourism, adding that the natural environment would be protected.

A 2005 law regulating the impact from development in environmentally or historically important sites allows private entities undertaking a proposed work to also undertake the required study on the environmental impact. This lets private companies to choose who will conduct the study; however the law does not specify punishment procedures in the case a study is faulty.

POLLS on this month’s presidential elections have focused on who people intend to vote, but a non-governmental organisation (NGO) asked people aged 35 or younger to agree or disagree with mostly disparaging views about politicians. 

Most agreed that politicians were corrupt and unreliable, the system was nepotistic and politicians did not contribute to society at large.

A total of 340 people between the ages of 15 and 35 participated in a poll by Cyprus youth boards’ umbrella organisation, KOKEN. 

Of those, 144 were men, 196 were women, and some 38.6 per cent were in higher education. Roughly 21 per cent worked in the greater civil sector and almost 40 per cent worked in the private sector.

About 90 per cent said the political system was rife with nepotism, giving them fewer opportunities. 

Most  – 84.4 per cent – agreed either completely or partially that politicians are part of the status quo and keep repeating the same mantras. 

Over 72 per cent agreed that politicians were unreliable and just 5.0 per cent disagreed with that view. About 69 per cent said the public should be able to lift politicians’ immunity. 

Asked whether politicians contributed to society, just 15 per cent agreed either fully or partially. 

About 78 per cent disagreed with the view that young people needed to be registered party members to be actively involved in society. Most (over 67 per cent) thought that being part of a non-governmental organisation would be more appreciated by others rather than joining a party youth group.

A total of 68 per cent blamed all politicians regardless of party for the debt crisis and almost 84 per cent wanted transparency on party finances. 

Almost 78 per cent also thought that politicians did not do enough for the young and nearly one in four said that having a close relative as a politician would be awkward or make them feel bad. 

But over 69 per cent conceded that some politicians were not corrupt. 

Find out more at www.cyprusyouth.org (Greek only).

WITH the elections just a week away, many of us may still be puzzling over who is the ‘right’ person for President, or, who would be the lesser evil. The blitz of the electoral campaign - both the information overload and the recriminations - often makes it hard to tell what the candidates stand for. And that should be a prerequisite for forming anything close to an informed opinion.

What with the bailout blues weighing down on us, a perfectly legitimate question pops up in our mind: is it even worth it to drive out to the ballot centre? That’s something that each individual must search his or her soul for an answer.

While you chew on that, here’s another thought: barring the quirky Outopos, you won’t find any life-changing ideas in the candidates’ rhetoric.

It’s not that the campaign is boring. Anything but, and it’s certainly helped that the once-ubiquitous Cyprus issue has been relegated to a sideshow. With the country facing financial ruination, the stakes this time round are perhaps as high as can be.

But, as political analyst Christoforos Christoforou puts it, none of the three main contenders offer a real vision for the country.

“We simply haven’t heard anything ground-breaking,” he says, speculating that the candidates are playing it safe for fear of alienating the undecided voters.

And the rhetoric of the three main candidates - Nicos Anastasiades, Stavros Malas and Giorgos Lillikas - is plagued by contradictions and inconsistencies, to varying degrees.

All three are bombarding the electorate with promises on how to salvage the island, but none have adequately explained how exactly they would pull it off, says Christoforou.

Anyhow, to make things easier, the views of the ‘Big Three’ have been packaged into three broad subjects: the bailout, the Cyprus problem, and natural gas.

Here’s the raw data folks, and the rest is up to you:

Bailout/economy

AT FIRST Lillikas was openly anti-bailout but, apparently realising this was not winning him votes, changed his tune and said he would sign a bailout but disengage from it in 2013 by paying debt off from natural gas proceeds.

He is critical of a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU), which, he says, is open to multiple interpretations on how much say lenders will have in telling Cyprus what to do.

The most updated position is that he will sign, but only if three key conditions are met: the gas proceeds will not be mortgaged to the troika, there is no provision mandating that the state budget must be approved by the troika; and the government is allowed to take tax incentive measures.

“Unless these three conditions are met, there is no question of us agreeing to a memorandum,” the candidate’s website states. Lillikas says he would press for renegotiation of a financial bailout.

On the thorny issue of the privatisation of state-controlled corporations, such as SGOs and public utilities, Lillikas was initially completely opposed. He has subsequently suggested a partial privatisation or ‘shares issue’ for these entities; the state would remain the main shareholder (with about a 75 per cent stake), and the management would be given to private interests.

Anastasiades has repeatedly called for a bailout to be concluded without delay, and for that he has been accused by his rivals of being keen to put Cyprus under the troika’s thumb. His election plank calls for restricting government involvement in business activities, smashing monopolies, reforming the tax regime and clamping down on tax evasion.

On SGOs, Anastasiades’ website says his administration would ‘examine’, on a case by case basis, the ‘possibility’ of a shares issue, running SGOs with a strategic partner, or outright denationalisation. However, during the first televised debate Anastasiades ducked a question as to whether he is in favour of privatising state-controlled corporations.

Whereas Malas is not averse to putting his John Hancock on a bailout now - a necessary evil - he’s adamant that it would be his last such deal. To avoid a second or third memorandum, he has said, he intends to put Cyprus back on its feet as soon as possible, by boosting economic growth. This would be achieved with a three-pronged attack: reforming/downsizing the banking sector; attracting foreign investments; and a policy of strict fiscal adjustment that also safeguards welfare spending.

Malas has criticised Anastasiades for rushing to put his signature on a bailout agreement, yet almost in the same breath conceded that the longer a deal takes the greater the harm to the economy.

Possibly a hostage to AKEL dogma, Malas does not want to hear of privatising SGOs. Instead he proposes modernizing their operational structure giving these organisations greater autonomy.

Natural gas

LILLIKAS maintains that outsiders should have no say in how the island manages its natural gas finds. The cornerstone of his plank centres on a proposal to securitise the undersea gas reserves, thus enabling the island to swiftly extricate itself from burdensome terms of aid. His rivals have trashed this view as unrealistic, unfeasible and amateurish.

Anastasiades meanwhile advocates a strategic alliance with Israel and the creation of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on the island, with a view to channeling the gas to the “East and to Europe.” He has also not ruled out the possibility of Cyprus piping its gas to Europe via Turkey.

Malas’ views are similar to Anastasiades’: the AKEL-backed candidate says Cyprus should make the most of commercial deals in developing both economic and political alliances abroad, and has linked the natural gas issue to a solution of the Cyprus problem.

Cyprus problem

LILLIKAS was initially against a federation but later watered down his stance, saying he was in favour as long as there were five or six states (zones) so the federation would not be bi-zonal. A bi-zonal federation is an inherently divisive and racist arrangement, he argues. He advocates re-launching peace talks from square one, placing negotiations on a totally new track, essentially invalidating past agreements.

Anastasiades has also seemingly shifted gears with regard to the Cyprus problem, most likely to keep his DIKO partners happy. The framework agreement between DISY and DIKO is brazenly vague on many points, thus satisfying everyone, from the doves to the hawks. The DISY leader has, for example, pledged to repudiate President Christofias’ commitment for a rotating presidency in a reunified state.

Despite asserting he would never again back an Annan-like plan, Anastasiades has stopped short of apologising outright for his stance on that peace blueprint.

Malas holds that the framework of negotiations should remain unchanged, on the basis of the July 8, 2006 agreement between the two communities; he supports a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation.

Many are still puzzling over who is the 'right' choice

CYPRUS goes to the polls next Sunday to elect a new president. After the five, catastrophic, years, the outgoing president bequeaths a presidency that could only be described as a poisoned chalice. There will be no honeymoon period for the new president, no adjustment time to ease himself into his new role and responsibilities as the in-tray on the presidential desk will be piled high with papers marked ‘urgent’.

First on the agenda will be the figure for the financial assistance of the banks, which at present is so high that it would make the public debt unsustainable. This complicates the issue of the bailout, with our potential lenders, including the IMF and Germany, questioning whether we would be able to repay a public debt exceeding 120 per cent of our GDP. Add to this the allegations of money laundering which have been given extensive coverage by the German media and appear to have become a topic of the German election debate, and the scale of the task becomes clearer.

Then there are the mounting domestic problems. We are in the worst recession of our 50-year history, with banks unable to give credit, dozens of businesses going bankrupt every week and the unemployment rate scaling a new high every month. Living standards have plummeted while more and more families are depending on handouts and charity to put food on their tables. Prolonged uncertainty over the economy has shattered business confidence and investment, and a big question mark still hangs over the signing of a memorandum, which despite the anti-troika demagoguery of some candidates is the only way to start re-building a country left in ruins by the Christofias government.

But for the rebuilding of the country to start the new president would also have to rebuild relations with our EU partners, regaining their trust and confidence both of which were badly damaged by Christofias’ anti-West prejudices and refusal to honour his commitments to the Union. The new president will have to win some trust in his first weeks in office if the memorandum to herald the return to normality is to be signed and approved by the Euro Group, by the end of March. There will be no time to waste, on new negotiations or posturing over the semi-governmental organisations, because our partners could allow us to sink if there is the slightest suggestion of more prevarication.

Voters should keep all this in mind when they head to the polling stations next Sunday. The identity of the new president will be critical to the future of the country which is why we cannot afford taking chances on a candidate because we like his rhetorical flourishes, his approachability or his views about protecting the environment. The question to ask is which candidate can be relied on to reach a quick understanding with the troika and the Euro Group and ensure the memorandum of understanding is signed without delays. This is the only way the danger of a hair-cut of bank deposits - which is being mooted in Berlin - and a banking collapse would be seen off for good. 

Of the three candidates, Nicos Anastasiades has by far the best credentials for this major salvage operation. He is very well-connected in Europe, having been an active member of the European People’s Party, and more importantly is the only candidate that is fully aware of the precarious situation the country is in. He is the only candidate who has stated he had no intention of renegotiating the memorandum. 

Stavros Malas is a political neophyte and the servile candidate of AKEL, which is quite rightly viewed with suspicion in the EU. And he is constantly loyally repeating his communist backers’ vacuous, anti-bailout rhetoric. Giorgos Lillikas, is a demagogue who will tell the voters whatever he thinks they want to hear – he was advocating not signing the bailout until he realised this was not improving his share of the vote in opinion polls and changed his tune. Both claim they would renegotiate the memorandum and secure better terms, which is an illustration of how lightly they approach a life-or-death choice. 

This is why neither Malas nor Lillikas can be entrusted with the presidency, at this critical juncture for country’s future, and this seems to be the view of most voters – opinion polls show Anastasiades having very a big lead, his share of the vote being double that of each of his rivals. It is reassuring to see that the voters recognise the importance of these elections and refuse to buy the big words and empty promises of the candidates of demagoguery.    

ALTHOUGH this has been the shortest and most low-key election campaign, since the days Makarios stood as the only presidential candidate, it still seems like it has dragged on for a too long. 

Why, I cannot explain, especially as the campaign has been completely overshadowed by our economic woes and the government’s insistence on putting the final touches to its five-year, Demolition of Kyproulla project. 

On Friday night, the election campaign exchanges were the sixth or seventh item on the CyBC’s main television news. Even state TV hacks, who love to pander to the politicos, have decided there are more important things to report than Lillikas’ and Malas’ teams’ daily outpourings of poison aimed at the poor old Fuhrer, who cannot even be bothered to respond to them.

As for the newspapers, they have banished the election news to their inside pages, the only front-page stories are Lillikas’ ‘paid briefings’ about the miracles he will perform,  Phil and Simerini, and the Fuhrer’s in Phil. We would like to downplay the campaign as well, especially as no candidate has booked a ‘paid briefing’, but feel duty-bound to help our customers avoid making an incorrect choice next Sunday.

IF ANYONE has discerned a blatant bias against the unlikeable Lillikas in our reports, we would like to assure them that they are absolutely right. And we will make no attempt to hide our joy over the results of Mega TV’s opinion poll, which was presented on Friday night and showed that Yiorkos was now 2.7 percentage points behind the AKEL puppet Stavros Malas.

An even more encouraging finding by the poll was that Lillikas had the least convincing positions of the three main candidates, only 15 per cent of the population believing his cheap, empty promises; even the AKEL candidate has more credibility (19 per cent) while Nik is way ahead of both (42 per cent).

The fact that 85 per cent of the population does not believe the crap Lillikas comes up with every day, restores faith in the voter’s judgment, which was shown to suck big-time in 2008.

THIS FALL in support has led the Lillikas camp to step up its vacuous rhetoric that fails to convince 85 per cent of the population. On Friday it castigated the “unacceptable statements by Turkey’s PM which insulted the Cyprus Republic and the EU,” and promised that Lillikas would punish the provocative Turks.

“It is now clear that Turkey would have to pay the cost for the occupation if we really want to bend Turkish intransigence,” said the multi-millionaire candidate’s spokesman, adding: “Giorgos Lillikas with his assertive (diekdikitiki) policy and comprehensive policy for the Cyprus problem constitutes the only trustworthy choice for a solution that will live up to the expectations and dreams of young people.”

This ‘assertive’ policy, according to another of his spokesmen will also be used to deal with the “setting of pressure and blackmail that was being staged against the Cyprus Republic and Cypriot people by the friends of Mr Anastasiades (the Germans).” It had been proved that Anastasiades was not protecting Cyprus’ interests and “to reverse the climate being created we need an assertive policy.”

And once he bends the intransigence of Turkey and crushes the Germans with his ‘assertive’, policy the Cypriot Rambo will take on Britain. According to his ‘paid briefing’ in Phil, he would be “sending a message of assertiveness to Britain, warning London that if it does not change its traditional stance that undermines the interests of the Greek Cypriots, he would raise the issue of the bases, after his election.” 

All you need is an assertive policy and suddenly a weak, bankrupt, midget state of 800,000 people that is begging the world for billions in help becomes a superpower that imposes its diktats on all its foes. Washington has been warned.

THESE delusions of grandeur are the legacy of Makarios, who is from the same Paphos village – Panayia - as Lillikas and also thought he could take on the big boys and win, but his assertive policy resulted in losing half of Kyproulla to the Turks.

The Makarios disease has afflicted many of our politicians. Commerce minister Neoclis Sylikiotis is the latest to display the symptoms. Sylikiotis was angered by the new head of Eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem who said that future revenues from natural gas deposits could be used to service Cyprus’ debt. 

AKEL’s super-minister immediately saw this as a devious attempt to steal our natural gas by the crafty Europeans, declaring that the natural gas had “political as well as economic significance.” He knew exactly what the agenda was.

“They (Europeans) do not want a small Cyprus, exploiting its geo-strategic position and wealth to play a bigger political part in the region and in Europe,” he said on Friday. They must be afraid of us. There is no other explanation.

IS ARCHBISHOP Chrys showing Paphite solidarity with Lillikas, acting as his secret agent? Some 10 days ago, out of the blue, Chrys announced that he would not mind our natural gas going through Turkish pipelines if this were the most economical way of supplying it. 

His comment acted as prompt for Yiorkos to start accusing the Fuhrer, on a daily basis, of wanting to take our gas pipeline through Turkey. Nik had once said that if there was a settlement this option could be explored and Lillikas has been presenting this as an act of treason. When Chrys mentioned the idea, the bash-patriotic Lillikas said nothing.

Suspicions that the two Paphites were in cahoots grew last week when Chrys predicted that the Fuhrer would win the elections. His last such prophesy was in 2008 and the man he said would win, the Ethnarch, did not even make the second round. 

THREE days before the elections, on February 14, Tof the Terrible, who is feeling neglected and lonely, will try to attract nationwide attention for the last time by holding a televised news conference. 

The 70-minutes running time of the show seems a bit overlong when you consider its purpose is for the comrade to go over the achievements of his presidency, which could be covered in 30 seconds, and leave plenty of time for journalists’ questions.

Unless, of course, the more dubious achievements of his administration, such as the blowing up of a power station, bankruptcy of the state, record unemployment and poverty, seeking a bailout, destruction of the banking sector, turning government bonds to junk, making the public debt unsustainable, handing all state posts to clueless commies, turning the Central Bank into an AKEL subsidiary, moving closer to partition, making us all poorer, etc would also be presented by Tof, in which case 70 minutes would in no way be enough.

AT LEAST the dams are full, and as my greengrocer said, in his economic forecast of the year ahead, “The only certainty in 2013 is that we won’t go thirsty.” The water situation is the only thing that has improved in the last five years, because it was out of his control.

When the comrade took over in 2008 we were experiencing acute shortages and water cuts were part of life, whereas now we can hose down the pavements seven days a week and desalination plants are being paid not to produce drinking water. 

The water shortage was the first problem he had to tackle and he did this with the incompetence that would become the trademark of his rule. He brought water from Greece in tankers that were used to carry crude oil, at huge expense, the water could not be used and it was emptied in the ground. At the time the government told us it was “enriching the country’s underground water reserves.”

This cock-up should have been a warning of what the next five years had in store.

TOF MAY be leaving office at the end of the month but he is taking every step to ensure that Akel keeps control of as many state controlled organizations for as long as possible, by appointing party apparatchiks. And when you consider that born and bred Akelites, are not the brightest sparks of our society, you can only expect the worse.

He has given the chairmanship of EAC to a Charalambos Tsouris, the chairmanship of the national health scheme to Thomas Antoniou, an executive post at phantom state company Kretyk to Charalambos Ellinas, while we are waiting for him to appoint another Akelite to the board of the Central Bank, after party apparatchik Marios Klitou gave up his seat. Klitou’s term would have been up in March, but by replacing him now, the seat would be occupied by a fat AKEL bum for another four years. 

The biggest surprise came with the appointment of the head of the state Energy Service and natural gas prophet Solon Kassinis to the post of executive vice-chairman of Kretyk. You can accuse Kassinis of a lot of things but not of being an Akelite, which make his appointment very strange, not to mention disappointing. I would have thought Kassinis, although a bit of a nut-case, was a proud man who would never be able to live with the shame of being a Tof appointee. I was wrong. 

CENTRAL Bank senior director Spyros Stavrinakis, another non-Akelite, was certainly not ashamed to be appointed deputy Governor of the Central Bank by the man who destroyed the country. Stavrinakis might not be a party member, but he realized some time ago that by acting as a party apparatchik and buttering up the Akel leadership, was the only to give his flagging career at the Central Bank a boost.

He had been sidelined by Governor Ttooulis who did not rate his abilities and suffered a similar fate under Governor Orphanides. Orph had given him a chance to prove himself but Stavrinakis failed to deliver and was put in charge of a department of no consequence. But once Orph left, his loyalty to Akel enabled him to become the new Governor’s second in command and he was put in charge of all the Central Bank’s important departments.

And as a reward for co-operating with the new Governor Professor Panicos to maximise the financial needs of the Cypriot banks, as per Akel’s instructions, the comrade decided to appoint him deputy Governor, a position that had been vacant for 50 years without posing any operational problems. 

AFTER telling several lies to justify the decision, like the ridiculous one about the need for the deputy Governor to exercise democratic control over the Governor (one Akel yes-man exercising control over another AKEL yes-man) government spokesman Stef Stef said that Stavrinakis’ appointment was the request of Panicos.

But Stavrinkais was behaving as a deputy Governor, having control of all CB departments anyway. The real reason for appointing him deputy Governor is that Stavrinakis was due to retire this year, whereas now he will have another five years of collecting his 100 grand plus annual salary and benefits. 

Money is very important to the stingy Stavrinakis, who had the nerve to sue the Central Bank when his salary was cut by a couple of hundred euro a month in 2011, as part of the public sector pay cuts. 

WHETHER he would be able to stay in this position remains to be seen, because there have been rumours that at least one presidential candidate (not Malas) has already consulted lawyers about the possibility of declaring the appointment null and void.

Speaking of the Central Bank, is it true that Professor Panicos has secured an interest-free loan for the purchase of a house? I hope not, because if he has he might incur the wrath of his AKEL employers, who were outraged when they heard that Orph had been given an interest-free loan.

THERE seems to be some truth to the report from Brussels that the government was considering giving a banking licence to a Palestinian bank that apparently has close links with Hamas. There was a meeting on the matter at the Foreign Ministry, with technocrats deciding that this was not a good idea, especially at time when Kyproulla is being accused of being a centre of money laundering.  

Apparently the presidential palace expressed an interest in the matter, speculation being that it wanted to help the bank obtain a licence. This would indeed be putting the final touch to the Demolition of Kyproulla project.

THIS TIME next week Cypriots will be in the process of voting in a new government and for the first time ever the main issue will be the economy, and not the Cyprus problem.

Most analysts agree that the outcome will be crucial for the future of the island but it will be the voters who must decide who they think is best to run the country in a time of crisis. 

Entering the final stretch, the last election poll from state broadcaster CyBC last night, gave another clear lead to DISY leader Nicos Anastasiades with 39.9 per cent of those asked saying they intended to vote for him, compared with 24.2 per cent for AKEL-backed Stavros Malas and 20.2 per cent who said they were voting for EDEK-backed Giorgos Lillikas. 

But last night’s poll also confirmed previous ones showing a split among DIKO voters between Anastasiades and Lillikas, despite DIKO’s official support for the DISY chief.  A total of 45.7 per cent of DIKO voters said they would vote for Lillikas, compared to 42.1 per cent who were voting for Anastasiades. From AKEL, 79.3 per cent are voting for Malas, but 10.3 per cent said they were voting for Lillikas. Lillikas even got 3.2 per cent of DISY voters, 94.5 per cent of whom are voting for Anastasiades.

Most people thought there would be a second round to determine a majority winner with 45.7 per cent said they would choose Anastasiades over Malas who would get 31.0 per cent if he runs against Anastasiades. 

Anastasiades’ lead against Lillikas in a second round was smaller, according to the poll with 42.1 per cent saying they were voting for Anastasiades, 32.1 per cent for Lillikas. In that scenario, 49.4 per cent of DIKO voters would go with Lillikas and 43.9 per cent with Anastasiades.

When the choice was Lillikas or Malas, most chose Lillikas (34.4 per cent) rather than Malas (27.5 per cent). 

Asked who they would not vote for under any circumstances vote, 38 per cent said that would be Malas and 34 per cent said they could not vote for Anastasiades.

Asked how interested they were in the elections, 42 per cent said they weren’t very keen and 57 per cent they were quite or very interested. A total of 85 per cent of those asked said they were definitely voting, an increase by ten percentage point since October 2013. Voting is mandatory in Cyprus, but in practice no one is prosecuted for being a no-show. 

Undecided voters came to 22 per cent, most coming from DIKO (24 per cent), followed by AKEL (20 per cent), and DISY (12 per cent).

Some 55 per cent thought Cyprus should sign a memorandum agreement on debt bailout terms agreed with its international lenders but a third disagreed, and some 30 per cent said no party had the right attitude for negotiating with the lenders, known as the troika. Some 24 per cent thought DISY, whose leader is willing to sign an agreement as soon as possible, had the right attitude, followed by 15 per cent who favoured ruling party AKEL’s attitude, that is against some of the agreed measures. The majority, 83 per cent, said people’s votes would be influenced by measures on the public deficit and debt. 

Anastasiades was deemed more competent than the other two main contenders, with 49 per cent thinking he was a natural leader versus 15 per cent for Malas and 13 per cent for Lillikas. Some 25 per cent thought Anastasiades was honest compared with 22 per cent for Malas and 15 per cent for Lillikas; and 38 per cent said Anastasiades was capable of negotiating bailout terms compared with 18 per cent for Malas and 17 per cent for Lillikas. 

In the remaining days before next Sunday’s elections, the three main contenders have been busy roaming the island and making statements.

Surrounded by masses of people in Nicosia’s Eleftheria stadium during a rally on Friday night, Lillikas said he would construct a dignified future putting the economy onto the right track, and safeguarding Cyprus’ natural resources. “Now is your time,” Lillikas told his voters. “We can do this together. We owe this to our children,” he said.

In Limassol, Anastasiades promised a new beginning that would bring about change and make Cypriots proud of their island. “(I) will not make you feel insecure as today’s leaders do. They will be departing in just a few days,” Anastasiades said. 

Malas’ spokesman, MEP Hadjigeorgiou, said yesterday that Anastasiades was trying to scaremonger people against Malas, but warned against an Anastasiades administration. 

“We call on people to choose a young, reliable, responsible (person). We call on people to vote for someone who can come head to head against political decline,” Hadjigeorgiou said.

Limassol rally on Friday for DISY leader Nicos Anastasiades

FIVE crew members died in an emergency drill on a Cypriot- owned cruise ship in the Canary Islands on Sunday.

Cables snapped on a lifeboat and it plunged 20 metres to the ocean and fell upside down, killing the five and injuring three others aboard, during the mock rescue exercise on the Thomson Majesty, operated by British travel group TUI Travel plc and owned by Cyprus-based Louis.

The boat was docked in the port of the capital of the island of La Palma, Santa Cruz.

Safety tests on lifeboats are a significant source of accidents, according to a report by Britain's Marine Accident Investigation Branch.

There were 1,498 passengers on board the 20-year-old ship at the time, a Thomson Cruises spokesman said. None of them was involved in the accident. The ship is registered in Malta.

"We are working closely with the ship owners and managers, Louis Cruises, to determine exactly what has happened and provide assistance to those affected by the incident," Thomson Cruises, owned by TUI Travel plc, said in a statement.

Three of the dead were Indonesians. The other dead were a Filipino and a Ghanaian. Three more crew members were injured. One person has been discharged from hospital and the other two people were expected to be released from hospital imminently, the company statement said.

A statement from Louis in Nicosia yesterday confirmed the deaths aboard the  Thomson Majesty. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those involved at this time who have all been notified and offered assistance,” a statement from the company said. “Three crew that were injured who were taken to hospital for precautionary reasons, have now been released and are back on board and receiving our full support.”

The company said it was undertaking an investigation to ascertain what led to the accident. ‘We are cooperating fully with the investigations,” said Louis, adding that it would be inappropriate to make any further comment at this stage. It said all passengers had been kept comfortable.

In Britain, the general secretary of the RMT shipping union, called for better safety standards.

Union leader Bob Crow said in a statement: "The thoughts of all seafarers will be with the friends and families of those who have lost their lives in this tragic incident.

"Once again the spotlight is on the issue of safety in the UK shipping and cruise industry and RMT awaits the outcome of the investigation and recommendations that can prevent any repetition of today's shocking events."

The Thomson Majesty, with five restaurants and two swimming pools, cruises to the Canary Islands, the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, according to Thomson's website.

THE GOVERNMENT yesterday signed an agreement transferring 30 per cent of Noble Energy’s gas exploitation rights on offshore Block 12 to Avner Oil & Gas and Delek Drilling, the US firm’s Israeli partners.

Avner and Delek Drilling are the arms of the Delek Group, a supplier of fuel and one of Israel’s largest companies.

Noble’s request to transfer 30 per cent of its rights was approved by the Cabinet a week ago.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Commerce Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis said the deal opens up “a new era of strategic partnership between Cyprus and Israel” with both economic and political ramifications.

Attending the ceremony among others were Karen Enstrom, Regional Energy Officer to the US Embassy in Nicosia, Israeli ambassador Michael Harari, and Charalambos Ellinas and Solon Kassinis, executives of the state hydrocarbons company.

Noting that the consortium comprising Noble, Delek and Avner possesses the majority of shares in Israel’s Leviathan field, Sylikiotis said the participation of the Israeli companies in Cyprus’ block 12 opened up possibilities for “significant synergies.”

Economies of scale could also be achieved via the commercial exploitation of the natural gas discovered in Block 12 and the natural gas discovered in Leviathan, he added.

The minister spoke also of possible partnership in an LNG plant here for transporting natural gas to European and international markets.

The construction of such a terminal would yield benefits not only for Cyprus as a regional energy hub, but also for Israel and the broader region, said Sylikiotis.

“For the first time in the history of the south-eastern Mediterranean,” said Sylikiotis, “it is possible to turn our geographical position from a disadvantage to an advantage and to work together in order to form conditions of prosperity, peace and progress to the benefit of our peoples.”

Nicosia expects Noble to carry out follow-up drilling in Block 12 by October.

As a result of appraisal drilling the gas reserves - which currently are only estimates - would be proven and be assigned an economic value, paving the way for eventual monetisation.

 “We shall continue together to appraise the discovery in block 12 and also to follow up with additional targets for exploratory work,” said John Tomich, Cyprus country manager for Noble.

For his part, Delek CEO Gideon Tadmor said everyone recognises that Cyprus “has a real potential of becoming an energy hub in this special place we live in.”

There is no doubt, he added, that “it is truly a joint venture not only between people working for commercial companies bringing success to shareholders but also between the governments of Cyprus and Israel working together for the benefit of the people of Cyprus and Israel and for the whole region.”

Tadmor expressed the hope that the “very significant” discovery of hydrocarbons in Block 12 would become  “a very fruitful project and we will see how this project will cause other companies to join the effort of investing in oil and gas exploration offshore Cyprus.”

Cyprus signed its first hydrocarbon exploration contract with Noble Energy in 2008. In late 2011, the US company announced a discovery offshore Cyprus with estimated gross mean resources of seven trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

At the Eurasian Economic Summit held in Istanbul last month, Turkey's deputy minister for energy and natural resources Hasan Murat Mercan warned his Israeli counterpart that Israel's energy co-operation with Cyprus would stand in the way of any proposed Israel-Turkey natural gas pipeline.

AS SUNDAY’S presidential elections edge closer, ruling party AKEL yesterday accused the election forerunner of arrogance, and EDEK-backed Giorgos Lillikas threatened a daily newspaper with a lawsuit. 

AKEL spokesman Giorgos Loucaides yesterday said forerunner DISY leader Nicos Anastasiades was arrogant and provocative, if his representatives were anything to go by.

One of DISY’s deputies stated during an afternoon TV talk show that Anastasiades would be the next president of the republic, Loucaides said.

“If Anastasiades’ crew behaves in this provocative and arrogant way, the public can only be left vulnerable and in fear over how Anastasiades would behave if he were elected president,” Loucaides said.

But the incumbent president, AKEL’s Demetris Christofias, himself said he was the future president of Cyprus before the elections in 2008. “You are speaking to the future president of the Republic,” he told a television reporter at the time in response to a question.

 “We all know it very well that Anastasiades has not changed, he has just mutated in his positions. The people of Cyprus cannot trust him because he is not reliable and he inspires fear,” AKEL leader Andros Kyprianou said during the opening ceremony of Nicosia refugee football team AEK Kythreas.

“Our people are worth much more than the leader of policies that go against people, an arrogant and unreliable (person),” Kyprianou said. 

They deserve (Stavros) Malas, “who knows how to, and can, protect people,” he added.

“If there is anything that truly fills our fellow citizens with fear is them remaining in power,” responded,” DISY spokesman Harris Georgiades said. 

But Kyprianou also took on Giorgos Lillikas who has been unable to explain “how he will save Cyprus from Turkey”, and “who has spent his electoral campaign trying to substantiate his proposal on selling block 12”,  he said, referring to the offshore gas field. 

Meanwhile, Lillikas has taken on daily newspaper Politis, which published yesterday and on Sunday reports on allegedly dodgy practices during Lillikas’ term as commerce minister and then foreign minister, in the Tassos Papadopoulos ‘government.

Lillikas said the reports were libellous, aiming to undermine his candidacy. 

“Politis’ reports stem from their worries that Giorgos Lillikas will get through to the second (electoral) round and will beat Nicos Anastasiades,” a statement said adding that legal action would be taken against the newspaper.

MAIN opposition DISY leader Nicos Anastasiades has widened his lead over his two main challengers a week before presidential elections, three polls showed on Sunday, as voters looked for a fresh pair of hands to revive their struggling economy.

Support for Anastasiades rose above 40 per cent in two opinion polls by the Phileleftheros and the Kathimerini newspapers, while state broadcaster CyBC put his rating at 39.8 per cent.

In all three cases, the polls showed at least a 15-point margin over his closest rival, Stavros Malas who is backed by ruling AKEL.

Just over half a million Greek Cypriots will go to the polls on Sunday to elect a new president for a five-year term, with a runoff a week later if the first round does not produce a winner with an outright majority.

Christofias has seen his approval ratings plummet over his handling of the economy since he was elected in 2008.

Anastasiades, 66, criticised the government for stalling on seeking international aid while the island was shut out of financial markets.

A massive munitions explosion, which killed 13 people and incapacitated the island’s main power station in July 2011, was widely blamed on state incompetence.

A bailout package for Cyprus, which could potentially amount to 100 percent of its Gross Domestic Product, is expected by April.

PRESIDENTIAL frontrunner Nicos Anastasiades yesterday unveiled a proposal that would allow people to demand legislation passed by parliament – under certain conditions -- on matters that affect them.

“The only condition is that 10,000 signatures must be collected within four months,” Anastasiades’ spokesman Tasos Mitsopoulos said.

After confirming the signatures, the recommendation would be forwarded to the relevant parliamentary committee that must discuss it in three months.

“The committee is obliged to announce its conclusions and decide whether to send the proposal to plenum (for voting) or reject it,” Mitsopoulos said. “Through this proposal, Nicos Anastasiades seeks to bolster public participation.”

AKEL-backed candidate Stavros Malas pledged yesterday to deliver a modern and upgraded health system.

Malas, who was health minister in the current administration for a year, said state hospitals would form the backbone of the system while the state would not pay more than what it currently did.

Giorgos Lillikas, the third main contender, pledged to “exercise his influence,” if elected, to get the electricity authority to reduce its prices until it gradually returned to the public its contribution following the Mari explosion.

Lillikas also pledged to introduce special rates for large families and those with three children. 

Special rates will also be afforded to single-parent families.

The EAC already has special rates for large families and those with three children – income criteria do apply.

The authority also has special rates for families on welfare and those receiving heavy disability assistance.

The EDEK-backed candidate said he will create five photovoltaic parks in the higher regions and provide residents free electricity, up to a certain amount, in lieu of a heating allowance.

The time frame for the project is five years.

Last, Lillikas pledged that the state will contribute in the installation of photovoltaic cells in hotels and industries and also speed up application processing.

THE THREE main contenders in Sunday’s presidential elections yesterday discussed the economy and domestic policy for the third and final televised live debate, broadcast by four main TV channels Sigma, Ant1, CyBC and Mega.

A number of protesters claiming to have been duped by banks into investing in risky bonds were waiting for the candidates to show up outside state broadcaster CyBC. 

Tensions arose when AKEL-backed Stavros Malas passed them by at the gate but he did return to speak to them, defusing the situation. DISY leader Nicos Anastasiades and EDEK-backed Giorgos Lillikas also took a moment to talk to the protesters, all claiming they would support them.

Journalists and candidates alike stuck to the subject matter of the economy and the need to sign a memorandum agreement with Cyprus’ international lenders. 

Malas stuck to AKEL’s line in relation to who was responsible for Cyprus’ nearly bankrupt state. He blamed the global crisis and the banks’ risky behaviour. “We need to ensure that no second bailout loan is necessary,” Malas said, a point he kept returning to.

He was also asked to comment on the Mari naval base blast in 2011 that killed 13 people, knocked out the main power station, and led thousands in the streets demanding the President’s resignation. The attorney general who looked at the police report on criminal responsibility did not find that the president was criminally responsible, Malas said, adding that the opposition took advantage of the situation to drive people to the streets.

Lillikas tried to assert himself as an independent candidate, despite his support by EDEK.  “I'm not part of the political status quo,” Lillikas said. “My commitment is towards the public,” he said. 

Using natural gas to disengage from the bailout as soon as possible, was again the focus of Lillikas’ proposals, but he was also asked to comment on reports of certain practices while he served as commerce minister for the Tassos Papadopoulos government, allegedly implicating himself and his wife in dodgy dealings. 

Lillikas claimed that daily Politis that published the reports, supported Anastasiades’ candidacy and the mudslinging was only proof that they were worried he would get through to a second round, which would determine the winner.  “It is all untrue. This time I will not accept just an apology. I will get compensation and donate it to charity,” Lillikas said. 

Anastasiades focused on his proposals – laid out in 49 draft laws – that would limit the terms of state officials, clarify their responsibilities, and scrutinise decisions to appoint them. 

 “We will not rest with electoral promises,” Anastasiades said adding that his proposals would become law. 

He dismissed suggestions that he was a ‘yes-man’, all too willing to yield to his European partners. 

“People want someone who knows how to create relations with those from whom he will later claim things,” he said.

At the end of the debate all three candidates were given two minutes to address viewers and tell them why they should vote for them.

They all looked straight into the camera and promised new hope and new beginnings. 

From left: DISY's Nicos Anastasiades, AKEL-backed Stavros Malas and EDEK-backed Giorgos Lillikas

Police grapple with a protester

SCROLL DOWN FOR TEXT FILE OF FULL PRICE LIST

THE HEALTH ministry released a new price list for pharmaceuticals yesterday revealing some reductions in expensive drugs, a price-freeze on prescription meds under €10 and increases in over-the-counter (OTC) products.

But consumers’ groups have condemned the hike in OTC medicines, and  the limited overall reductions, and criticised the health ministry for setting a €1.0 transaction fee for prescriptions processed in the private sector.

The price list contains 4,191 medications, of which the prices of less than half have been reduced. Prices have gone down for 1,892 medicines, the prices for 1,815 are unchanged, and 484 have had their price increased, the head of the pharmaceutical services, Arthur Isseyegh said.

“The 484 medicines that have had their price increased are mainly low-cost, non-prescription medicines which should not affect the consumer too much,” Isseyegh said. He was referring to over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, sold without prescription, which companies are now able to sell at whatever price they want.

The Consumer and Quality of Life Union however condemned the decision to allow prices of basic medicine, such as Aspirin and Panadol double in some cases. “They may be cheap (drugs) but they have a high consumption rate, so profits also hike,” the union said in a statement.

For example, the price of Aspirin (20 tabs) has gone up from €1.80 to €2.30, and Panadol cold and flu (24 tabs) now costs €5.36 compared with €4.86. It is understood that about half of all OTC drugs available in the market are now more expensive.

“Unfortunately the Cypriot consumer will continue buying the most expensive medicines in Europe,” the consumers' union said, adding that the public would continue using the internet to buy, or else bring them in from abroad, or through the north. 

“The reductions on the price list are limited as they don’t cover all the categories of medicines with most reductions essentially being minimal,” the statement added. 

But health minister Androulla Agrotou told state broadcaster CyBC that with the new reductions, Cyprus would no longer be on the list of countries with the most expensive medicines. 

Isseyegh said the reductions amounted to a total of  €9.5 million to €10 million for consumers. “Analytically if we look at it, consumers should save approximately €1.85 million in 2013 on high blood-pressure medicines with many being reduced by 50 per cent,” Isseyegh said. “Money saved on stomach-acid related disorders should reach around €2.4 million in 2013 and €1.3 million on antibiotics for systemic use,” he added.

Consumers actually spend some €250 million a year on drugs, about €110 worth through the public sector and the rest through private pharmacies, auditor general Chrystalla Georghadji said in her 2011 report. 

Meanwhile, the consumers union also criticised as “humiliating and inhumane” the introduction of a transaction fee for prescription medicines that will give private pharmacies an additional €1.0 per transaction. Given that 468 private pharmacies serve around 200,000 consumers, if each had only one prescription a year, the new charge would yield several thousand extra euros per pharmacy in extra annual revenue.

“Is it not a disgrace and cruel for a pharmacist to demand a fee from every patient, every pensioner, every large family, every unemployed person and every unfortunate person who doesn’t have enough money to raise their children, depriving them the ability to buy their children milk?” the consumers’ union said.

Isseyegh said the fee exists in many European countries. “It paves the way towards procedures which will be applied in the national health scheme,” he said. 

Pharmacies have a profit margin of up to 37 per cent of wholesale price – the second highest in the EU according to former health minister Stavros Malas. Cyprus also has the second highest ratio of pharmacies to consumers in the EU, with 468 private pharmacies catering to up to 25 per cent of the population, a maximum of 210,000 people. 

DISY deputy Stella Kyriakidou, who sits on the House Health Committee, questioned the timing of the new price list. “I am wondering why these new prices were not imposed when the current regime first took power five years ago and they have yet again waited for one week before the elections to implement their policy?” she asked.

“Cypriot patients have to face serious financial difficulties and the price list should be looked at again to provide more reductions in the price of medicine,” she concluded.

The auditor general has said that if the price list is updated once a year, prices could be reduced up to 20 per cent. But the health ministry is due to review medicine prices again in four years, sticking to a four year cycle methodology.

Malas, the former health minister who is running for elections this February tried to push the price review forward by a year – to 2012 – and even promised reductions of up to 50 per cent. 

Instead, the average reduction is closer to 7.0 per cent.

The health ministry sets prices by getting the average from the wholesale prices of four EU member states ranging from cheap (Greece) to expensive (Sweden). The two countries in the middle are France and Austria. 

Prices for medicines costing €10 or less have remained unchanged to ensure that manufacturers continue making them. Manufacturers will not usually make a drug if they cannot meet a 10 per cent profit margin on the wholesale price. When prices plunged in 2005, many drugs disappeared from the market with the pharmacists’ association claiming that two-thirds of previously available medicines were no longer being sold.

Prices have gone down for 1,892 medicines

EUROPEAN Central Bank executive board member Joerg Asmussen has warned that Cyprus could default if there was a delay in granting financial assistance to the island, putting at risk the progress achieved in the eurozone last year.

Asmussen believed an aid package for Cyprus will be ready by the end of next month, he told the German business daily Handelsblatt in an interview published yesterday.

"I expect the aid programme for Cyprus will be in place by the end of March," he said, adding that politicians in his native Germany should not try to delay a controversial decision on Cyprus until after a German federal election in September.

"There must be no doubt about this: if Cyprus gets no external help, it will slide into default," said Asmussen.

He also warned that failing to help a systemically relevant euro zone country would "put at risk progress made last year on the euro crisis - and that would have high financial and political costs".

Politicians in Germany's governing alliance and the opposition are hesitant about granting Cyprus a €17.5 billion bailout because of its status as a tax haven for rich Russians, many of whom use it for money-laundering.

Asmussen said an aid package for Cyprus would be "no one-way street" and the government in Nicosia would have to fulfil "tough conditions" including scaling down its financial sector and introducing more banking transparency.

At the same time the European Commission said yesterday it had not proposed forcing losses on uninsured depositors of Cypriot banks.

The remarks were made following a report in the Financial Times that a proposal had been made to 'bail-in' investors and depositors of Cypriot banks, a move that would reduce the amount of financial assistance required by Cyprus.

"There are no proposals of the European Commission along the lines described in the article," said a spokesman for Olli Rehn, the European Commissioner in charge of economic and monetary affairs.

He added that the Commission intended to ensure fair burden sharing and restructuring Cypriot banks.

Quoting a confidential memo, the FT said the proposal was one of three options put forward as alternatives to a full-scale bailout. 

Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly said Cyprus would not accept such a proposal.

"I would say that the bail-in of depositors is a grossly exaggerated possibility, unlikely to happen, we will not accept it under any circumstances and I don't think it creates any way forward," Shiarly said.

The Central Bank of Cyprus said there was no question of implementing such a plan.

Such an action would be unconstitutional since it affected a person’s right to property, a Central Bank spokesperson said.

It also clashed with provisions of the European Charter of Human Rights, Aliki Stylianou said.

The new plan has not been endorsed by its authors in the European Commission or by individual eurozone members, the FT said. The memo warned that “risks associated with this option are significant”, including a renewed danger of contagion in eurozone financial markets, and premature collapse in the Cypriot banking sector.

Labelled “strictly confidential” and distributed to eurozone officials last week, the memo said the radical version of the plan – including a “haircut” of 50 per cent on sovereign bonds – would shrink the Cypriot financial sector -- nearly eight times larger than the island’s economy -- by about one-third by 2015, the FT said.