A TOP Shacolas Group manager was sacked for writing an article criticising Central Bank Governor Afxentios Afxentiou, Politis newspaper claimed yesterday.
Dr. Costas Mavrides, a general manager for Euroinvestment & Finance Ltd, was reportedly sacked because he refused to apologise to Afxentiou over an article he sent to Phileleftheros – even though his piece was never published.
The article, which Politis published in full yesterday, criticises Afxentiou for his dealings on the stock market, arguing that these compromised the Central Bank Governor’s independence.
The Shacolas Group yesterday insisted that the Politis story was not true.
Mavrides, a lecturer on fiscal policy at the Cyprus University, told Politis that he had submitted the contentious article on January 5. Two days later, Shacolas group boss Nicos Shacolas apparently rang him from England to demand that he withdraw the article and send a letter of apology to Afxentiou.
Mavrides said he told Shacolas he was not about to change his opinions on the issue and would therefore not withdraw the article.
The academic told Politis he then rang Phileleftheros editor Anthos Lykavghis, eager to find out how Shacolas had come to know the content of his as yet unpublished article. Lykavghis assured him he personally had not shown Shacolas the article, Mavrides said.
On Monday, January 9, Mavrides found a letter of dismissal waiting for him on his desk.
The letter reportedly stated he was getting the chop because he had written an article “whose content and tone constitute a personal attack on the Governor and other officials of the Central Bank, directly harming the interests of our company.”
Shacolas group spokesman, Pavlos Pavlou, yesterday afternoon issued a statement in response to the Politis article.
“Nothing that Mr Mavrides passed on to the newspaper bears any relation to truth,” Pavlou stated.
“A representative for Euroinvestment & Finance Ltd stated that the company is no longer concerned with the Mavrides issue, which it considers history, ” the statement added.
Mavrides’ article criticises Afxentiou for playing the stock market.
Revelations that Afxentiou had acquired shares by private placement caused a storm of protests last year. Afxentiou insisted he had done no wrong, and was not compromising his position by securing shares in this manner.
Mavrides did not mince his words in his article: “If the Governor of the Central Bank of any country acquired shares – not just by buying them on the stock market but by securing them through private placement – this would be a reason not just for his resignation but for a first rate scandal.”
