THE CABINET said yesterday that no criminal offences had been committed by members of the Paphos Hellenic Co-operative, including its chairman and DIKO vice-chairman Nicos Pittokopitis, under investigation over allegations of irregularities.
But the Cabinet-appointed committee which conducted the investigation into the claims suggested that some of the bank’s members could be sacked for disciplinary offences.
The Cabinet yesterday convened to discuss the investigation’s results.
Pittokopitis, a DIKO hopeful for the elections in May, and other members of the co-operative are being investigated for exceeding their allowed overdrafts from the bank.
Papapetrou told his daily briefing after the Cabinet meeting yesterday that members of the co-operative might have committed disciplinary offences, but that Attorney-general Alecos Markides would have the last word on the whole affair.
The investigative committee’s report on the case, released yesterday, suggests that: “members of the bank have broken the law on co-operatives but have not otherwise breached the law. Nevertheless, some of their actions constitute abuses of trust and this kind of offence is punishable with sacking.”
Pittokopitis insists that he paid back the excess overdraft in full.
The Cabinet is also looking at the results of a separate investigation into claims that officials of 12 other co-operatives had exceeded their allowed overdrafts.
“In this case too, it seems that officials have committed disciplinary and not criminal offences,” Papapetrou said.
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