THE TECHNICAL Chamber (Etek) said yesterday that the decision to move the Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) to the International Merchandising Centre (IMC) was illegal.
Etek president Nicos Mesaritis said allowing the CSE to move to the massive building on the way out of Nicosia would be equivalent to condoning the illegality.
Officials admit that the area in question is not zoned for office operations like those of the CSE, but have hinted there might be some ways around the dilemma.
"There are many excuses but when they are used it means negating fixed institutions," Mesaritis said.
"There is therefore no reason for the existence of Strovolos Municipality and the Town Planning Department, no reason at all since their laws are not being enforced."
He also referred to the fact that the owners of the IMC had built an extra floor in the building but not applied for planning permission for it until construction was completed.
"Those who feel laws do not apply to them are condoning illegalities," Mesaritis said.
He said that in his opinion, if the Interior Ministry was operating correctly, there would no way for the CSE to move to the IMC, "unless they deviate from the laws and regulations to create the right conditions".
"The day the Stock Exchange will enter that building it should be automatic that all those who tolerated that action be prosecuted on charges that lead to their imprisonment," Mesaritis said.
"If all these people believe the law should not be enforced, it will only encourage all citizens to say ‘there is a law but there is no reason for us to follow it. On the contrary if we follow it we will be losers’."
Yiannis Papadopoulos, the director general of the Town Planning department, has given a report to the Interior Minister, who has the final say in the matter.
Papadopoulos admitted that when the IMC building was completed it was discovered that an extra floor had been added.
"The owners then submitted an application for the extra floor," he said.
He also admitted that the use of the building as a stock exchange was not permissible under current regulations concerning the area.
"If any permit is issued for use as a stock exchange, it would be a deviation," he said.
Strovolos Mayor Savvas Ilioforou said his Municipality would do whatever possible to see the CSE move to his district.
"There are no objections from the municipality for the CSE to move there," he said. "On the contrary we want to roll out the red carpet for it."
But he said the owners would have to go through the due legal process to obtain whatever permits were needed.
The CSE reached a deal with the owners of the IMC some months ago for a move initially due to have taken place by the end of last month.
Brokers, investors and a daily stream of media crews who crowd into the current CSE building in central Nicosia have frequently complained about the lack of space, prompting bourse authorities to seek an alternative.
The exchange has been housed in its current location for over three years but rapid expansion prompted by an upsurge in market fever has seen speculator activity in the bourse mushroom in the past 12 months.
Around 25-30 brokerage firms plus staff, sometimes totalling more than 100 people, operate from the exchange, without counting the scores of investors who crowd the floor every day.
The IMC was opened in 1997 as a central location for buyers from countries in the region to purchase goods wholesale at a one-stop shop.
The £30 million building has four floors and 22,000 square metres of exhibition and administrative facilities divided into dozens of units, as well as 25,000 square metres of bonded warehouse. It is also computer networked.
Disadvantages could include the fact that it is not central and that many brokerage firms have set up office close to the existing building on Grivas Dighenis Avenue.
