EVEN THE police are involved in the exploitation of foreign workers, said Georgios Stylianou yesterday, president of the federation of recruitment agencies. Speaking after the arrest of a 38-year-old in connection with charges of trafficking and exploiting 110 Romanian workers, Stylianou said even members of the police force were acting as “agents” for foreign workers. He told state broadcaster CyBC yesterday that “uniformed police officers, prison employees and fire service officials systematically come and apply for licences for foreigners to work”. He accused the state of not doing enough to prevent this, calling on the authorities to “take such action to forbid any involvement”.

POLICE ARE flying to the UK today to bring back the two cousins involved in the manslaughter of Cypriot teenager Christos Papiris to serve their three-year sentences in Cyprus.

Luke Atkinson and Michael Binnington, believed to be 24, from Witham, Essex, were originally cleared of blame for the death of Christos Papiris, 17, in a 2006 road crash but were later convicted by the Supreme Court in their absence.

Police are flying to London today, where the UK authorities are due to hand over the two tomorrow so they may bring them to Cyprus to serve their sentences at the Central Prison.

THE common red mushroom, Lactarius Deliciosus, which is found growing wild in Cyprus and is enjoyed by many people when in season, could hold the key to making the island green once more.

“The aim in Cyprus is to have 30 per cent forest cover.” said Dr Nicolas Jarraud of UNDP-ACT. “Of course in antiquity it was 80 per cent but you’ve got to start somewhere.”

Dr Jarraud works with a UN programme aiming to reforest both sides of the island. The key to the process is mycorrhizae, a symbiotic relationship formed between a fungus and the root structure of the plant.

The red mushroom we see in most Cypriot woodland is the fruiting body of the vast subterranean structures which form the mycorrhizae.

THE OPERATION of the new Larnaca Airport will cost national carrier Cyprus Airways (CY) an extra four million euros a year in extra costs, said CY spokesman Kyriacos Kyriacou yesterday.

Kyriacou said with the operation of the new airport, which opened its doors on Tuesday, CY will incur “an additional four million euro, which for us is huge”. This was “a dramatic increase in costs”, he added.

CY was the airport’s biggest user, he said, noting that the cost incurred was “heavy, particularly given the economic crisis the island is currently going through”.

ENERGY REGULATORS from both banks of the Mediterranean will be meeting in Cyprus this Friday to define their 2010-2012 Action Plan.

The plan aims at developing the regulatory framework necessary for the creation of a stable, harmonised and integrated Euro-Mediterranean energy market that will provide the maximum benefits to energy consumers in both regions.

According to a press release, the Energy Regulators would come together for the 8th General Assembly of the Association of Mediterranean Regulators for Electricity and Gas (MED-REG), co-funded by the EU.

THE NEW Larnaca airport is finding its feet as customers and staff alike get used to the new facilities. On a recent flight from Paris, a child buggy took 40 minutes to be unloaded by baggage handlers.

“It was an isolated incident,” commented Larnaca airport spokesman Adamos Aspris. “We must be given a little time, these are new systems.”

Since opening for traffic on Tuesday, the new airport has generally operated smoothly with no major complaints being received. The buggy’s delay occurred on a evening flight when the rest of the luggage all arrived within 20 minutes.

THE COMMERCIAL contracts for the supply of biometric passports by German company Bundesdruckerei GmbH (BDR) were signed yesterday at the offices of Civil Registry and Migration Department (CRMD) head Anni Shakalli.

The €4.9 million contract was finalised after the Tenders Review Authority announced two weeks ago that it had rejected an appeal lodged by a competing bidder against the decision to award the contract to BDR, one of the world’s leading suppliers of systems for secure ID.

The second tendering process – launched in February 2008 – followed a bureaucratic fiasco surrounding the first tendering process launched in 2006. This was won by a subsidiary of BDR, but was finally cancelled after legal wrangling and accusations of mismanagement.

THE GOVERNMENT yesterday rubbished charges from coalition partners DIKO that it was being giving up too much in the negotiations to resolve the Cyprus problem.

DIKO vice chairman Nicolas Papadopoulos claimed that President Demetris Christofias was more or less giving away what the former Turkish Cypriot leader and hardliner Rauf Denktash wanted in 2002.

“In 2002 Rauf Denktash was asking for a new partnership with equality, continuance of Turkish guarantees, recognition of the breakaway state and rotating presidency with executive power,” Papadopoulos said.

He said then president Glafkos Clerides rejected the proposal.

A 60-YEAR-OLD man was killed yesterday on a Paphos construction site when a colleague drove a truck into the van he was sitting in. The incident was the second workplace fatality in a week and the third accident.

The tragedy occurred in Polis Chrysouhou at a site in the Limnis region. Neophytos Makrantonis, 60, an electrician for the contractor was sitting in a small van on the site when a 150 ton lorry driven by a Romanian worker crashed into it, killing him instantly. The circumstances surrounding his death are currently under investigation.