Skai asks for money back in new twist to Logos saga

By Athena Karsera

THERE was a new twist in the Logos TV saga yesterday with reports emerging that Archbishop Chrysostomos had returned a £500,000 downpayment to one of the candidates seeking to take over operation of the ailing Church-owned channel.

Both Skai and Mega channels of Greece are vying to lease Logos, while an unnamed third company’s lawyer last Friday revealed that Chrysostomos had already signed an April 26 agreement with a certain Lila Karkoulakou — a member of the party he is representing.

According to Skai, Chrysostomos had made formal arrangements with the company, with only a few details remaining before a final contract was signed. But informed sources said yesterday that Skai on Monday demanded that its downpayment be returned.

The sources said Skai had made the demand in a letter to the Archbishop accusing him of violating the spirit of good faith between the two sides.

The Archbishop’s lawyer Aris Hadjipanayiotou has denied that any agreement was made with Skai, while confirming that Mega had submitted a second, higher, bid.

Mega has promised to keep 70 per cent of the station’s current staff and fully equip the channel for the full ten-year rental period.

But Karkoulakou’s lawyer George Kolokossides is threatening to take the Church to court if a final agreement is signed with Skai or Mega.

The party’s agreement comes into effect on September 1, Kolokossides said in an announcement last week.

Chrysostomos is resting after suffering a sprained ankle on Saturday while on holiday in his native Paphos.

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.