SCANDALS, discrepancies and irregularities that saw – among others – members of the Cyprus Ports Authority (CPA) receive almost €47,000 each in overtime in 2008 in addition to their salaries, have prompted the Attorney-general to look into the possibility of taking legal action.
An array of serious allegations against the CPA general manager, Board of Directors and general staff were voiced at Tuesday’s House Watchdog Committee while MPs examined the Auditor-general’s report for 2008. These included nepotistic procedures for employing new staff, unjustified journeys abroad for board members and their wives, and the submission of misleading information to achieve an increase in wage scale for the Authority’s General Manager.
Attorney-general Petros Clerides said he would not only report the cases to the police, but would also examine the possibility of the Legal Services taking out a lawsuit against “those responsible for violating the law and principles of good administration”.
The AG pointed out: “There are such serious irregularities, they can’t go unnoticed.”
According to the table that was included in Auditor-general Chrystalla Yorkadji’s report, one CPA employee received €46,700.76 in overtime hours in 2008, another €45,752.15 and a third €39,710.05.
MPs were further riled to hear that those who got paid the overtime didn’t turn up for work the following day, meaning other colleagues had to make up for their work, thus also being paid overtime. The justification offered was that there was a provision in their contracts which said it was obligatory for someone to take nine hours time off after working overtime – a claim rejected by the Auditor-general, who stated that there was no such provision.
But perhaps the most provocative aspect to this specific irregularity was the fact that the overtime was worked at times when movement in the ports was at a minimum, the report stated.
A spokesman for the Communications Ministry informed MPs it would submit a suggestion to the Cabinet calling for the appointment of an investigative committee; but not just for the overtime saga. Another series of discrepancies emerged at Tuesday’s meeting.
When job positions opened, the Authority apparently “forgot” to issue an announcement in the state’s official Gazette and once the deadline for applications ended, the Authority’s members would inform their relatives or friends – who had already applied after being informed about the positions – who would in turn get the jobs.
Furthermore, instead of being hired on a part time basis for 17 or 23 hours a week – as the regulations state – they would be employed for 38-hour weeks. And after 52 weeks of service, they would automatically become full-time staff. According to the regulations, if someone is working 23 hours a week, they can’t be employed fulltime.
According to the Watchdog Committee Chairman, DISY’s George Georgiou, some members of staff were even employed as cleaners and ended up carrying out office duties.
“We have called for the intervention of the Attorney-general to examine all the issues raised,” Georgiou said yesterday.
The Auditor-general’s report also showed a series of discrepancies in the amount of journeys abroad by members of the CPA – some of which did not have the Board of Directors’ approval. The report shows that no offers were sought to find the cheapest air fairs and in one case, the price of the ticket seemed exceptionally high for the destination in question – the ticket cost €1,200 for a trip from Larnaca to Brussels via London, and back, in economy class. It later turned out that the member in question had also taken his wife with him, MPs were told.
The Authority’s General Manager, Yiannakis Kokkinou, also came under fire, when it emerged that he had allegedly tricked the Communications Ministry into increasing his wage scale – from €66,987 to €70,685 a year. According to what was heard at the House, an application seeking the increase in 2008 had been rejected by the Finance Ministry. However, the CPA sent an accompanying letter with its annual budget to the Communications Ministry asking for the upgrade, claiming approval had been given by the Finance Ministry.
“This is a fact,” Georgiou said yesterday. “The attorney-general has given orders for lawsuits and criminal prosecutions against those who misleadingly or falsely said that there was approval by the Finance Ministry to upgrade this position.”
The Chairman of the Authority’s Board of Directors, Chrysis Prenzas, yesterday admitted the CPA was facing internal problems.
“The Ports Authority is indeed dealing with operational problems and problems relating to good management,” Prenzas told the CyBC. “As a Board of Directors, we have centred our efforts on two aspects: one is internal supervision; we are trying to ensure the independence of internal supervisions and reinforce it with staff. And as we can’t employ new staff on our budget, we will purchase man hours from a specialist office.”
The second aspect, he added, would be to draw up clearer regulations so that employees are aware of the exact procedures they need to be following.
“If there is any expediency I am the first that is ready to take on responsibility,” said Prenzas.
Asked to comment on the General Manager’s “dubious” promotion, Prenzas added: “The Board has nine members; the nine members make decisions based on information they have. This is where they will be judged: if these decisions were correct.”
