THE ROW between DIKO’s Antigone Papadopoulou and Andreas Angelides yesterday showed no signs of abating, with the two engaging in a rather heated dispute live on radio.
The argument began when newly-elected MEP Papadopoulou accused MP Angelides of deliberately trying to delay the approval of a parliamentary bill, as he had personal interests as one of the involved parties’ lawyers.
In fact, she challenged Angelides during the bill’s discussion at the House Finance Committee, urging him to admit he was lawyer to one of the employees of the Conference Centre, the staff of who were under discussion to become permanent members of the Public Sector.
When Angelides denied it, Papadopoulou presented a letter he had written as one of the employees’ lawyers, which sent the shocked MP into a rage.
In return, Angelides yesterday said Papadopoulou behaviour was “lousy and outrageous”, adding that she had deliberately tried to trap him.
“I asked Mr Angelides three times if he was implicated in any way in the matter of integrating the employees that were at the Conference Centre into the public service, and he denied it,” Papadopoulou told a CyBC radio show.
“This bill that was being discussed for such a long time and is ready to go to the Plenum for approval, every Thursday Mr Angelides goes to the Party Leaders’ Conference and requests a postponement, without having discussed the matter with the DIKO parliamentary team,” she added. “I have repeatedly told him that the DIKO parliamentary team should make a decision and put an end to this affair.
He had an obligation to say that he was his lawyer. He had an obligation to say this at the Leaders’ conference. We MPs can’t wear the MP’s hat in one instance and the lawyer’s on the other.”
Papadopoulou refuted Angelides’ claims that the specific bill was unconstitutional and called on the Attorney-general to intervene and shed light on the matter.
She added that the DIKO president Marios Garoyian had been informed beforehand on the way she planned to deal with the matter.
On his part, Angelides claimed he had worked as a lawyer months ago on a case involving three workers, though they had nothing to do with the bill.
“I had forgotten all about this case,” said Angelides. “I’m puzzled by Mrs Papadopoulou’s stance, tying to trap me instead of being straightforward and just mentioning the information she had, so I could have given her the relevant explanations.”
He insisted the law the Committee was trying to pass was unconstitutional and denied he had tried to postpone its approval, saying the Leaders’ Conference had decided that there were legal points that needed to be looked into.
