Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 98-08-06

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cynews.com/>

Thursday, August 6, 1998

Church keeps distance from Bishop

THE HOLY SYNOD'S decision to order a Church investigation into the business dealings of Limassol Bishop Chrysanthos attracted wide coverage yesterday.

Simerini said the Synod had found Chrysanthos guilty of violating Church rules by striking business deals without its approval. It has appointed a special committee to investigate the case. Chrysanthos looked visibly shaken as he left the Archbishopric after the Holy Synod's meeting which had lasted almost six hours.

In a statement issued after the meeting, the Holy Synod said it had been "established that Chrysanthos had undertaken commitments and made deals of a financial nature without the approval of the Holy Synod and the Economic Council".

Machi reported that the Synod had expressed "serious doubts" about Chrysanthos' innocence. It added that the Minister of Justice had given Archbishop Chrysostomos "damning evidence" against Chrysanthos, which changed the primate's mind.

It seemed the Archbishop was particularly annoyed, because he felt he had been misled by Chrysanthos, who, during an earlier meeting, had assured Chrysostomos he had done nothing wrong. Chrysanthos admitted that the Synod's decision had been correct.

Haravghi said the Synod's decision was damning, not just for Chrysanthos, but for the Archbishop as well. Last Saturday, it noted, the Archbishop had said that he was convinced that Chrysanthos had done nothing wrong.

Meanwhile, The Attorney-General, Alecos Markides, announced that police were also investigating accusations made by Portuguese businessmen against Chrysanthos. If investigations dictate the arrest of the Bishop the police would not hesitate to have a remand order issued, Markides said.

Alithia, quoting a report by Alpha TV, said that the Attorney-general's office was investigating a case of bribery in which the Director of the Water Development Department was allegedly involved.

It said that the director had allegedly been given a gift of two apartments worth £50,000 from a developer who had secured the contract for a big water project.

The Auditor-general's office had found evidence suggesting that the director had been using water for agricultural purposes to fill up the swimming polls of his luxurious villas in the Paphos area. The director had earlier been accused of using staff and equipment from his department to build Nicosia house.

Phileleftheros was the only paper to lead with the S-300 missiles, saying that the government would base its final decision on the deployment on four criteria.

These include the following: the safeguarding of government credibility, the maintenance of the Unified Defence Dogma, the ability to handle a potential crisis and the implications for public morale. The Clerides government would seek the support of Athens for any such decision.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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