Car importers threaten court action over new checks

By Alex Mita

IMPORTERS of scrapped cars have threatened to take legal action against the government should the Department of Transport continue to carry out thorough inspections on cars before they are approved for repair.

The move comes after the government’s adoption of tough new regulations for the repair of scrapped cars following the recent luxury car assembly scam that rocked the police force prompting the resignation of Police Chief Andreas Angelides.

Licensed dealers say reassembled cars could prove lethal due to the chassis’ inability to cope with the stresses of a collision.

The new regulations introduced by the Department of Transport impose a four- stage inspection on cars by a three-member team of official technicians before the owner can receive a certificate of approval to go ahead with repairs.

However, suggestions have been made for not approving cars should technicians determine that the cost of repairing the vehicle is more than 1/3 of its original selling price in Cyprus.

If, for instance, the cost of repairing a car whose sale price is £45,000 exceeds £15,000, the car would not be approved.

But some importers are furious with the new regulations, including a ban on importing left-hand drive cars, despite the fact that manufacturers strictly prohibit modifications on cars’ steering systems.

The importers insist that the new rules are illegal and have notified the government in writing of their intentions to take them to court.

Meanwhile, the Nicosia District Court yesterday officially charged police inspector Yiannakis Panayiotou and his daughter with involvement in the car scam.

The court also charged three Transport Department employees, Leonidas Parpas, 50, Yiannakis Athanasiou, 53, and Andreas Neoptolemou, 58, from Lakatamia.

The defendants pleaded not guilty and the court set the date for their hearing on March 13, 2003 and January 13 respectively.

The defendants were released on bail.

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.