FORMER Supreme Court Judge Panayiotis Kallis was yesterday officially sworn in as the head of the government-appointed Cypriot Air Crash Committee.
On May 10, the Cabinet approved the appointment of an independent Investigative Committee to determine the causes of last August’s Helios Airways crash, which claimed the lives of all 121 passengers on board.
Kallis is expected to begin work on the investigations in six days’ time.
Kallis said yesterday he would do everything possible to make sure his investigation was finalised quickly, without putting a time limit on how long he expected his investigation to take.
That would depend on how long it would take to conduct the necessary questioning and statements that would need to be taken, he told reporters. The former judge will soon draw up a list of the people that he will be calling on to testify and give statements on record.
He also made it known that he would soon be issuing an announcement calling on anyone who may have any knowledge surrounding the incident to contact his committee.
The final reports of the Cypriot Air Crash Committee are to be submitted to the Cabinet and then to Attorney-general Petros Clerides – the only official allowed to bring possible criminal charges against individuals pinpointed in the report, Kallis explained.
Kallis, who will be assisted by Greek expert appraisers Elias Nicolaides and Georgios Bonnis, did not rule out the possibility of calling up politicians to make statements.
Communications Minister Haris Thrasou said yesterday the committee had been given all the necessary green lights to allow it them to make a complete and thorough investigation.
Asked by reporters if Kallis’ report might not clash with that submitted last week to the government by Greek Air Crash Committee head Akrivos Tsolakis, the Minister said he would respect the outcome of both reports.
“The report will look into the series of events during the flight but will also look into whether other necessary measures and precautions were followed around the time of the disaster,” said Thrasou.
COMMUNICATIONS Minister Haris Thrasou said yesterday that Civil Aviation would soon be deciding on whether to allow Helios Airways’ request to change its name to ajet.
The decision has angered relatives of the Helios victims, who are accusing the airline of trying to escape any possible charges that may be brought against the airline. They have been involved in a public row with Thrasou, who they say is not doing anything to stop the airline from attempting to change its name.
“I reiterate once more that the Civil Aviation has not given any aviation licences to Helios Airways to allow the airline to fly under the name of ajet”.
He added that he shared the same view as President Tassos Papadopoulos and Attorney-general Petros Clerides, who have both stated that the name change would not exonerate the airline of any possible blame.
