Interior Minister Socratis Hasikos said that the missing millions of the Paphos Sewerage Board (SAPA) scandal that has been revealed may be “the tip of the iceberg” and that many more people may be involved in the bribes and graft related to the matter.
The town’s Mayor and ex-officio chairman of the SAPA board, Savvas Vergas, as well as SAPA Manager Eftychios Malekides and former DISY councilman Giorgos Michaelides were held on an eight-day court remand last Thursday as the police and state audit services investigate alleged cases of bribery, corruption and inflation of budgets that has left the project at a standstill and the coastal town looking like a permanent work site.
The whole project, that includes the nearby villages of Kissonerga, Chlorakas, Emba, Peyia, etc., should have cost EUR 78 mln to complete and contractors have said the cost has already risen to 109 mln, with some communities considering cutting off all ties to SAP and going it alone.
“You must realise that even when the President of the Republic places himself under investigation, consider how far this can go. We have great faith in the investigating authorities, the police, the Attorney General’s office, and if some people have to be taken to court, so be it,” Hasikos told reporters on Sunday.
President Nicos Anastasiades told Auditor General Odysseas Michaelides when receiving the latter’s annual report for 2013 last week that no one should be spared from public scrutiny, let alone the first citizen of the Republic. Anastasiades has also welcomed an open investigation into the conditions surrounding his former law firm’s representation of Ryanair in the low-cost operator’s bid for bankrupt state-owned Cyprus Airways.
As regards Vergas’ insistence not to resign from office, Hasikos told reporters “you have to be patient. Over the next few days we will have rapid development that will release the local administrations from this stranglehold. I believe that we will soon head to elections at the Paphos Municipality. I am in constant contact with the Attorney General, but other efforts are also underway in order to break free from this conundrum.”
Hasikos said that the reform of local administration is also at an advanced stage. “The political parties and the Union of Municipalities have submitted their own counter proposals. The Ministry will consider all options in connection with the draft legislation we have already submitted. I hope we will find a compromise solution that will see the bill head to parliament, as all the suggestions so far contain a lot of positive aspects.”
Adding that this is not a matter of the Minister putting water into his wine, Hasikos said he believes the draft bill may be ready by the end of the year.
