At the suggestion of Irini Charalambidou, the Institutions Committee decided to examine ex officio the reasons why for eight years the disciplinary cases against two contracting companies involved in SAPA kickbacks were not finalized in the Council of Contractors, with the result that they were cleared of the charges of bribery of officials
What the Christodoulidis government should have done, instead of indifferently blowing the whistle, will finally be done by the Institutions Committee of the Parliament following the suggestion of AKEL MP Irini Charalambidou: It will investigate the reasons that were not finalized for eight years before the Registration and Control Council Contractors, the disciplinary trials against two contracting companies and their executives who admitted that they were involved in the bribery scandal of the Paphos Sewerage Council (SAPA), as a result of which the trials were stopped and they were cleared of the charges! It is a carbine scandal involving the bribery of elected officials, specifically the former mayor of Pafos Savvas Verga and half of the municipal council, which was closed without the punishment of those who handed out the kickbacks. Only those who pocketed the kickbacks were convicted based on the testimony given in the criminal court by those who distributed them, that is, the owner-managers of the contracting companies.
According to what is recorded in the conviction of the Criminal Court of Paphos, dated 18/2/2015, the bribes given to Savvas Verga and his company amount to €1 million. The owners-directors of the contracting companies delivered the sums in cash in suitcases , sometimes during the meetings they had at Paphos City Hall and sometimes at meetings arranged at the Hilton Hotel in Nicosia.
Decision on ex officio examination
The Institutions Committee of the Parliament decided in its yesterday's session to register for ex officio examination the following matter raised before it by AKEL member of parliament Irini Charalambidou: "The malfunctioning of the Council for the Registration and Control of Contractors resulting in the termination of disciplinary proceedings and the discharge of contractor companies who were involved in the SAPA scandal".
Arguing in favor of an ex officio examination of the matter, Mrs. Charalambidou stated the following: "Contracting companies that admitted to giving kickbacks were acquitted, because the competent council failed to proceed with the prescribed procedures. Corruption phenomena go unpunished, with the result that the feeling of impunity deepens among citizens and constitutes a challenge".
Phaidonos is asking for an investigation
The mayor of Pafos, Phaidonas Phaidonos, is the man who contributed the most to the revelation of corruption and bribery with the projects of SAPA. In a press release he issued, he calls on the Legal Service to intervene to establish the reasons why the disciplinary proceedings were never completed by the Contractors' Council, resulting in the exoneration of the charges of corruption and bribery of elected officials for the involved contracting companies and executives them on the grounds of the long delay in their adjudication.
In particular, the Municipality of Paphos states in its announcement that the decision of the Council of Contractors to end the disciplinary proceedings and the discharge of contractor companies allegedly involved in the cases of corruption and entanglement of SAPA is a "huge challenge and insult" to the public sense of accountability and punishment of those involved in such scandals, but also a strong blow against the effort to fight the phenomena of corruption and entanglement in our country. "It is provocative and at the same time disheartening that the institution charged with the disciplinary control of contractors has shown inexplicable negligence or willful omission in relation to the prosecution of the said contracting companies, as a result citing the lapse of a long period of time to end the prosecution ", says the Municipality of Paphos in its announcement. Pointing out, at the same time, the following: "Since 2016, the administrative advisers (including the Council of Contractors) have changed several times, but the reluctance to conduct the disciplinary trial has remained unchanged."
According to the Municipality of Paphos, "it is obvious that the members of the competent bodies of the Council of Contractors did not do their duty and that is why the Legal Service of the Republic and other competent authorities of the state must take measures with determination and practical respect for the public feeling".
They tried for eight years…
After eight years of hearing disciplinary cases against contractor companies and their executives, the competent supervisory body, the Council of Contractors, announced the end of disciplinary proceedings against the accused due to the long delay in adjudicating the cases.
The lawyer of the contracting companies sub-category, Christos M. Triantafyllidis, raised a pre-trial question of abuse of the disciplinary process due to the long delay in adjudicating the cases through no fault of his clients. In this regard, we mention that the trial of the relevant disciplinary cases began on 18/7/2016 but, due to the end of the term or a change in the composition of the Contractors' Councils at the time, the cases were interrupted and started from the beginning. This resulted in a long delay in their trial. No Employers' Council has been able to complete the adjudication of disciplinary cases. Therefore, as it informed us in its decision on 1/2/2024, the current Council of Contractors, "after studying the matter based on the relevant jurisprudence of the Supreme Court and the relevant legislation, decided that indeed the delay of eight years is an abuse of the procedure of such a form as to adversely affect the legal rights of the companies under prosecution". Thus the defendants, companies and owner-managers, were acquitted of the charges.
Four councils changed
One reasonably wonders why the four Contractors Councils appointed since 2016 failed to try the disciplinary cases resulting in the acquittal and impunity of the managers and owners of large contracting companies, even though they admitted in their statements to the Police and filed under oath in a criminal court that they paid kickbacks for SAPA projects. The former mayor of Pafos, Savvas Vergas, and his gang who pocketed the bribes were arrested, tried, convicted and imprisoned. However, those who distributed the kickbacks were neither arrested nor brought to justice and were eventually cleared of the disciplinary charges they were facing. And the most challenging: They are still winning the big Government projects and will continue to win them as long as they were not charged in the criminal courts and their disciplinary proceedings were stopped after eight years of hearings.
They had a finding from 2016
The Council of Contractors is appointed by the Council of Ministers, chaired by a senior civil servant of the Department of Public Works, with a senior lawyer of the Republic as vice-chairman, while the members also include three contractors.
It is, therefore, astonishing that the four Contractors' Councils have not reached decisions on disciplinary proceedings despite having before them, as of 26/2/2016, the finding of the investigating officer, which is a catapult for the contracting companies involved. The conclusion is based on the conviction issued by the Criminal Court of Paphos on 2/18/2015 against Savvas Verga and his company. Their conviction was based on the statements of the executives of the contracting companies who testified under oath that they were given kickbacks in suitcases.