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/ Disarray at Michaelides debate
/
Tassos Papadopoulos threw the cat among the pigeons at the House plenum on
Thursday by stating he did not back a House watchdog committee report on ex-
Interior Minister Dinos Michaelides, Simerini reported yesterday.
The committee report condemns Michaelides for alleged abuse of power for
his own financial gain and is backed by most deputies.
Diko parliamentary spokesman Papadopoulos sparked angry reactions from
deputies from his own party on Thursday evening by stating from the podium
that he thought the report's findings were not legally defensible and not
backed up by sufficient evidence. Fellow Diko deputies protested that their
spokesman's position did not represent the party's.
Politis led on an "exposé" about the amount of money the government was
spending on top of the range BMWs for general directors of ministries and
other entitled officials.
The "provocative" cabinet decision - which flew in the face of government
pronouncements on the need to curb public spending - had been taken on
Thursday, the paper stated. It provided for the purchase of ten brand new
BMW 523s, at a cost of £8,875 each.
The cabinet had decided a while ago to purchase seven of the BMWs for
Ministers and an order had been placed with a Nicosia company which was
later withdrawn. The company took the government to court and won. So the
government has now decided to buy not just seven but 17 of the cars from
the company, so as not to discriminate between ministers and directors of
ministries, the paper reported.
Philelephtheros reported that the Turkish side was up to its old tricks in
an attempt to scupper pending international efforts to move towards a
Cyprus settlement.
Widespread talk of initiatives by the G8 group of nations had prompted a
predictable reaction from Ankara and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash,
the paper stated.
The Turkish side was doing its utmost to create tension between the two
sides on the island in order to ensure the political climate would be
anything but conducive for negotiations come the initiative. It was a two-
pronged effort, the paper stated. On the one hand Cyprus was to be the
centre for Turkish army exercises in June and on the other Denktash was
again talking of full union with Turkey for his break-away "Republic of
Northern Cyprus."
Machi homed in on a statement by Government Spokesman Costas Serezis to
suggest the G8 nations were nowhere near agreeing on an initiative to solve
the Cyprus problem. The paper said Serezis had stated the G8 were finding
it hard to agree on whether and when their Cyprus initiative should come
about.
Serezis said there were "disagreements" among the G8 nations on the issue
of a Cyprus initiative, the paper reported.
© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999
