Tassos defends Michaelides over LNG scandal

PRESIDENT Tassos Papadopoulos yesterday defended his trade minister from accusations that he disputed on the Auditor-general’s authority over her probe into the natural gas affair.

Earlier this week, Auditor-general Chrystalla Yiorkadji handed the House Watchdog Committee a damning report on government plans and actions concerning construction of liquefied natural gas infrastructure.

Yiorkadji concluded that the present administration wasted three years without progress despite paying foreign consultants millions of pounds to prepare studies on which option – a floating terminal or land-based facility – was best suited to the Cyprus market.

The government is accused of delaying on the issue, resulting in consumers footing the bill for the far more expensive oil that currently feeds the island’s power plants.

Initial decisions taken by the Papadopoulos administration provided for an onshore unit ready by the year 2010.

That date has now been pushed back to 2015, with the best-case scenario being 2009 for a floating terminal – a solution strongly opposed by unions of the Cyprus electricity authority.
Trade Minister Antonis Michaelides sought to undermine the report after its release, prompting the reaction of former government partners AKEL who described his as unacceptable and accused him of misleading the cabinet.

“If the Trade Minister had arguments, he should have put them on the table, and responded with evidence to the Auditor-general’s draft report,” AKEL spokesman Andros Kyprianou said. “He didn’t do that and this alone says a lot,”

Michaelides fought back, charging AKEL, who had been a coalition partner when the natural gas decision was taken, for reacting for a “handful of votes.”

The President said his minister had a right to dispute the Auditor-general’s position.

If the minister presents his arguments he could be right, Papadopoulos said, rubbishing reports that Michaelides was trying to undermine the Auditor-general’s role.

“Neither the minister is hurting the institution and surely not the president of the state.”
Cyprus

Cyprus must introduce natural gas by 2009 in line with its EU obligations for the introduction of cleaner forms of energy.

Power stations in Cyprus rely on heavy fuel oil, which emits large quantities of carbon dioxide, a gas blamed for causing climate change.

Opinion: page 15

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.