ELECTIONEERING has spilled over into Cyprus Airways (CY), with board members at each other’s throats over media leaks on major company decisions.
Simerini newspaper yesterday reported details of heated board meetings exposing differences of opinion between chairman Haris Loizides and other members.
Sources told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that there had been some differences of opinion over leaks to the press regarding the recent fleet renewal decision and the Olympic takeover plans.
“It’s because we are entering the election period and everything is becoming a political issue now,” the source said.
Simerini said the crisis had emerged when the House Communication and Works Committee called on the CY chairman and press spokesman to control the flow of information relating to the two deals.
However, the paper said that two members of the board had gone public on their disagreement over the recent fleet renewal.
It said that on February 15, during a board meeting, Loizides had accused the two members of leaking information to the press on every decision taken by the board, even if they themselves had disagreed.
The two board members, DIKO’s Achilleas Kyprianou, and AKEL’s Stavros Evagoras, reportedly defended their actions saying that members of the board had to brief their parties on serious issues.
Another board member said the role of board members was to act responsibly and in the company’s best interests without any influence from whatever parties they belonged to.
Simerini reported Kyprianou as saying his role as vice-chairman was being undermined, but another board member accused him of sitting on the fence when major decisions were being made.
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.
