AN ONGOING probe into suspected massive fraud at the port of Limassol could soon yield arrest warrants, police have said.
Launched three weeks ago, the criminal investigation relates to suspected over-invoicing for equipment purchased by the Limassol Licensed Porters Association (LLPA), as well as to totally bogus invoices.
The total over-invoicing amount could run in the millions.
Police said yesterday their investigations are at an “advanced stage”, with several people being called in for statements, among them the LLPA auditors as well as a number of suppliers and customers of the association.
In one reported case, the association was charged €3000 for a vehicle part normally worth €500. And for the same vehicle - used for work by the port workers - it was discovered that the tyres were replaced about a dozen times within the space of a year.
And according to Politis, machinery valued at €11 million was invoiced for €13 million, the difference ending up in the pockets of those involved in the scam.
Other reports said the cases under investigation date back about five years, and pertain to hundreds of purchases; the defrauded amount could be as high as €5 million.
On discovering last August that certain invoices issued for the purchase of accessories and machinery were unreasonably high, the LLPA board had brought in outside auditors to review their books. Their findings were then forwarded to the attorney-general’s office.
From the findings, the attorney-general established that elementary bookkeeping rules were not kept, and recommended to the association that it report the case to the police.
This absence of accounting checks “appears to have been exploited by a number of persons”, the attorney-general noted in his letter of response to the LLPA.
The in-house auditors and the person responsible for purchases at the LLPA have meanwhile been suspended by the Cyprus Ports Authority, which regulates matters concerning licensed porters.
The chairman of the association Andreas Charilaou has been quoted as saying that three porters, aged around 60, have been sent on forced leave.
The LLPA is a collective of businesses employing longshoremen for transportation of freight from the ships to storerooms and their safekeeping during their storage, until delivery.
They procure the equipment - such as forklifts - and supervise the collection of cargo from ships, which they transport, sort out and deliver to the consignees.
The longshoremen are self-employed. A shake-up of port personnel took place recently, when the Cyprus Shipping Agents Association came in and offered compensation to certain highly-paid workers, who they then replaced with employees on lower wages.
The shipping agents had also intended to buy out the LLPA itself, but the venture stalled apparently due to a lack of financing.