Authorities step in to pay power bill

THE ELECTRICITY crisis in the occupied areas appears to have been solved, but another electricity scandal has begun.

Turkish Cypriot papers on Tuesday reported that strong public reaction and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash’s intervention had led authorities to cancel a planned schedule of power cuts.

But yesterday the papers reported that electricity employees’ union chief Kubilay Ozkirac had revealed a list of people stealing electricity by tampering with their electricity meters.

Among those named were ‘deputies’, election candidates, a ‘mayor’, a political party leader, a banker, businessmen, doctors, teachers and journalists.

Ozkirac said these people had incurred billions in losses to the ‘state’.

On Monday, the Turkish Cypriot authorities cancelled their schedule of power cuts and revoked an earlier decision to peg prices to the US dollar.

The ‘Cabinet’ stepped in to order the issue of a letter of credit for the purchase of fuel oil for power plants.

Turkish Cypriot newspapers last week reported on looming power cuts and a probable loss of all electricity by the end of the month.

The crisis was sparked by cashflow problems at the electricity authority in the occupied areas, which could no longer afford the fuel it needed to generate power. The Vakiflar Bank had refused a letter of credit to buy more because of failure to settle earlier debts.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.