ANYONE who saw Thursday’s front page headline in Alithia – ‘Creation of nuclear power plant being studied’ – could have thought that this was a poor April Fool’s story that had been rejected at the time but had remained in the newspaper’s computer server and was selected by a naïve hack working a night-shift for the first time.
After all, could a country that was totally incapable of managing its water resources with the most basic level of competence for longer than two months be trusted to operate a nuclear power station, especially when a single blunder by some lazy, disinterested worker (human error in polite society) could cause thousands of deaths and plunge us into a nuclear winter?
Admittedly, a nuclear accident would have an upside. It would lead to the withdrawal of all the Turkish occupation troops and Turkish settlers, but what would it do to property prices? I suspect the radio-active fall-out would also finish our tourism industry and thwart our ambitions of becoming a regional, medical/educational centre.
But it was not an April Fool’s story as any sane person would have suspected on reading the headline. The source of the story was the head of the Energy Service of the commerce ministry Solon Kasinis, who said his department would prepare a study about the benefits of nuclear power and submit it to the government and the legislature.
Kasinis had already been contacted by foreign companies that specialised in setting up nuclear power stations and was impressed by the cheapness of the electricity such a station would produce. By yesterday, his enthusiasm had all but fizzled out, CyBC radio reporting that no study would be undertaken and that Kasinis had only mentioned the nuclear power station as an option.
The news caused anger among developers, who had already commissioned architectural plans for underground nuclear bunkers – a perfect expansion area now that they were running out of affordable land to build on.
IT WAS NOT the first time that the wise Solon had expressed a loony view in public. Last August, speaking on a radio station about oil exploration in Cyprus waters, he made the following statement: “In eight years we will be selling oil to all of Europe and you can imagine what Cyprus will become.”
But even someone as positive and optimistic as Solon could not have believed there was a chance in a billion for a nuclear power station to be built in Kyproulla, even if the world’s oil well had completely dried up. As if Cypriots, who oppose the installation of a mobile telephony antenna close to their homes because they think it would harm their health and have vandalised installations for wind parks, fearing that the value of their land would be reduced, would ever agree to having a nuclear power station located within 100km of their house.
And then we would have to find a location to dump the nuclear waste. What chances is there of that happening when entire communities go wild at the idea of having a normal waste disposal site close to their homes?
A Cyprus University professor made a constructive proposal when asked by the Mail where a nuclear power station could be located. “Next to Kasinis’ house,” he said.
OUR FINANCIAL world was left aghast on Wednesday evening as control of its most venerated institution, the Bank of Cyprus, fell into the hands of a rather unsophisticated, but mega-successful Paphite developer.
Theodoros Aristodemou, of Aristo Developers fame, was elected chairman of the board of directors, defeating former finance minister and Spurs supporter Michalis Sarris by one vote. The Aristodemou camp had plotted their coup very cleverly and kept their plans secret until a couple of days before the AGM.
Aristo’s triumph shocked all the snobs of the capital who must be feeling nauseous at the idea that the chairmanship of the august bank, the preserve of old Nicosia money, has been taken over by nouveau Paphos money.
With the departure of our friend Charilaos Stavrakis from the post of the deputy CEO earlier in the year it means that all the head honchos of the traditional establishment bank are now self-made men who started from humble origins. Call me a snob, but I fear our leading bank has lost its class. But I cannot begrudge Aristo his triumph – the kid from the poor neighbourhood not only gate-crashed the rich kids’ party but he also left with the biggest present.
WE WOULD like to apologise because last Sunday’s analysis about the B of C AGM was completely wrong – we had not even reported that there would be a second candidate for the chairmanship.
We have already given instructions to a member of the Limassol underworld to place a bomb under the BMW of the man who had given us the inaccurate information and from Monday photos of him in compromising positions with his overweight secretary would be posted on the internet.
We may have been a bit too harsh on our informer as, like most people, he knew nothing about the devious plot aimed at preventing Sarris from becoming chairman. The mastermind of the plot was former B of C chairman Vasilis Rologis, the seasoned placeman who, after being forced to resign a few years ago, has decided to assume the role of kingmaker.
His talent for scheming and networking as well as his natural gift for grovelling to the powerful has enabled him to hold several high-powered posts despite his limited abilities and undistinguished professional record. Rologis, after his disastrous stint as chairman of Cyprus Airways took over as chairman of the Chamber of Commerce (KEVE) where he broadened his network of contacts, which included Aristodemou, the chairman of the Paphos branch of KEVE.
Why he was so keen on getting Aristodemou elected we do not know but can only guess that with his old KEVE pal in the driving seat he would be one of the bank’s most powerful directors. A cushy, well-rewarded bank post could follow.
THE ROLE played by the B of C’s all-powerful CEO Andreas Eliades in the election of chairman Aristo was also of interest. Eliades had initially given his approval to a possible Sarris chairmanship, only to change his mind a few days before the AGM and back Aristo. Why?
It could be because the director chairing the bank’s remuneration commission, which gave Eliades an obscenely high bonus last year – in the region of a million euros – was an Aristo supporter and would remain in his post if the developer was elected.
Also, Eliades would have free reign to continue his autocratic rule of the bank under Aristo who is much less knowledgeable than Sarris about how banks work and would exercise less control on the CEO. Sarris is also quite well-versed in issues of corporate governance, another factor which tipped the balance in Aristo’s favour.
Finally, the lending to Aristo companies from the B of C is in the region €200 million, which may slightly restrict the chairman from ever flexing his muscles to the CEO.
WE HOPE the head honchos of Marfin Laiki will not call our establishment to complain because their own AGM that was held the following day did not get a write-up despite the fact that executive Vice-chairman Andreas Vgenopoulos was in town. The truth is all the dramatic events took place at the B of C AGM. It is not every day that nouveau Paphos moollah becomes chairman of the establishment bank.
A FILM crew of the Greek state broadcaster ET was recently in Cyprus for an interview with former Ethnarch Tassos. The crew was preparing a documentary about the Milosevic millions which were laundered by the TP and Co Law Office. Our Ethnarch said he had nothing to do with Milosevic – another lawyer from the firm was handling the matter.
Speaking to the hacks doing the documentary, before the actual filming, a surly Tassos told them that neither Christofias nor Kasoulides could solve the Cyprob because they did not have the adequate knowledge. Only he properly knew the Cyprob, as he had been immersed in it since 1960, and was the only person who could solve it, he boasted to the Greek hacks.
“But you still lost in February,” one of the hacks countered, to which the great leader responded thus: “I didn’t lose it was the Greek Cypriot people who lost.” For once I will agree with our Ethnarch.
COMRADE presidente Christofias must have been on a high on Friday when he finally met his soul-mate and fellow-traveller, Venezuela President Hugo Chavez. Unfortunately I cannot report if he had a chance to ask comrade Chavez to send us some of his cut-rate crude oil, even though CyBC reported yesterday morning that the two commies had reached agreement on a range of issues – presumably on fighting Third World poverty and transferring wealth from rich to poor countries. As long as the wealth will not be transferred from the People’s Republic of Kyproulla we fully back the agreement with comrade Chavez.
THIS IS not because we are tight but because, according to our media, we are getting poorer by the day. The cause for our poverty is the constantly rising prices which the media love to rant about, demanding government intervention in the market and price controls, because people are unable to make ends meet.
Responding to the media hysteria, commerce minister Antonis Paschalides said the government would explore the possibility of taking counter-measures, in order to offset the effects of rising fuel prices. He did not elaborate, probably because he did not have a clue what counter-measures could be taken, but he had to say something when even a right-wing paper like Simerini was calling for price controls.
FACTS do not seem to support the media poverty warnings. In April, the biggest number of cars registered was Mercedes, according to data on the Stockwatch website – 549 or 14.5 per cent of all car registrations. Toyota was second and BMW was third with 417 registrations in one month. In other words, 25 per cent of all cars registered in impoverished Cyprus last April were petrol guzzling BMWs and Mercedes. When one in four car buyers can afford to buy expensive, luxury cars and pay the fuel bill, despite soaring petrol prices, newspaper stories about poverty should be taken with a sack of salt.
CONGRATULATIONS to our old friend Michalis Ignatiou for receiving a journalistic award, from Greece’s Athanasios Botsis Foundation for the Promotion of Journalism. He received his award for his “successful articles on national issues and his authoritative reports from the USA”. A few years ago the Botsis Foundation awarded a journalist who wrote a book claiming he had met and spoken to several Greek Cypriots missing since 1974, whom he had met in Turkey.
Ignatiou said nothing at the award ceremony about the publication date of his eagerly-awaited book about the bribery of Greek Cypriots before the referendum.
IN THE SAME week eight Cypriot journalists who live and work in Greece were honoured by the press office of the Cyprus embassy in Athens. The ceremony was addressed by government spokesman Stephanos Stephanou, who, according to the Cyprus News Agency, said the eight hacks were being “honoured for their contribution to enlightenment on the Cyprus question.” Who they enlightened he did not say.
THE FLAGS flying at the top of the Shacolas Tower in Ledra Street appear to have changed recently. A few months ago there was the flag of Greece, of the EU and of the Shacolas Group. More recently the Greek flag was replaced by a Cyprus flag while the other two have remained. Has the group denounced its Greekness or suddenly re-discovered its Cypriot identity? No, the company is showing sensitivity to the feelings of its Turkish Cypriot customers who are flooding into Ledra Street through the new checkpoint and may be reluctant to spend their money in a department store flying the Greek flag. Businesses may change their flags, but their values remain the same.
A SMALL plantation of marijuana plants was found in a National Guard camp earlier this week. As with all the drug related stories involving Guardsmen, the defence ministry’s line was that it was an isolated incident. There have been so many isolated incidents of Guard pot-smoking in the last couple of years the ministry would do well to change its phraseology. In fact, it could start using the wide availability of marijuana in the army as an added incentive for youngsters to do their service. Fewer teenagers would find excuses not to serve if they were promised free cannabis; and even fewer would want to leave after they had done their 26 months.
