By Elias Hazou
DIKO deputy Nicos Pittokopitis, fired last Friday as head of the Paphos Co- op, yesterday claimed his alleged involvement in the loan scam had deliberately been blown out of all proportion by his political opponents.
Pittokopitis and two senior colleagues were sacked after revelations that the Co-op had been approving loans to companies which were illegally registered as members there; under the law, only individuals are allowed to register as members of co-operative banks. By registering as members, companies evaded mortgage fees worth thousands of pounds to the Land Survey Department.
On a live radio show yesterday, the outspoken DIKO deputy again categorically denied any wrongdoing, but conceded he was at fault for not double-checking on the companies for whom loans were approved.
He also clarified that he was perfectly aware of the law, adding that he used to sign loan application forms after being assured by the co-op’s secretary that everything was in order.
“It was routine; it was like writing out a blank cheque,” Pittokopitis admitted. “Maybe we should have been more careful, maybe we should have checked out the applying companies one by one. For that much, we are responsible,” he added, referring to himself and the other members of the co-op’s board of directors who put their signatures on the forms.
“But in all fairness, these things should have been taken care of by the administrative officers,” he went on, evidently referring to the co-op’s secretary.
Media reports have in particular been focusing on one high-profile case, where Pittokopitis allegedly approved a £700,000 loan to a company.
Pending the results of a government investigation into financial transactions at the Land Survey Department and the co-ops, Pittokopitis lashed out at those detractors calling for his resignation from political office.
He has concentrated his fire on DISY deputy Christos Pourgourides, among his strongest critics. A spat between the two broke out earlier this week, when Pittokopitis accused Pourgourides of equating him with Italian porn star and politician Illona ‘Cicciolina’ Staller.
That triggered a heavy exchange of salvos, with the deputy from Paphos claiming Pourgourides had two years ago been censured by the Bar Association for using his influence as a member of parliament for his own interest.
The Bar Association president yesterday confirmed that Pourgourides, who sits on the House Watchdog Committee, had been reported by another lawyer but that the case was later dropped and no charges were brought up against the deputy.
According to the lawyer who reported Pourgourides to the Bar Association’s disciplinary committee, the DISY deputy had tabled in parliament an amendment to a criminal law while involved in a case in court. The allegation was that Pourgourides was trying to get his client off the hook by changing the law.
The name-calling continued yesterday, as Pourgourides issued a written statement describing Pittokopitis’ allegations as “malicious falsehoods.”
Pourgourides went on to pile criticism on opposition DIKO, saying it “provided cover” to “mudslingers and slanderers” while professing its aim was to cleanse public life of corruption if its candidate were elected president.
