EMPLOYEES at the Social Insurance Department have been ordered not to disclose any information on pensions on penalty of being brought up on criminal charges.
The gag order, revealed by Politis yesterday, comes as reports about generous pension packages for civil servants are emerging. The reports also come at a time when the two-tier system of contributions to the Social Security Fund (SSF) – one for civil servants, the other for the rest of the population – is under scrutiny.
Previous reports described the perks given to known public figures, including Central Bank governor Christodoulos Christodoulou, who receives three pensions worth a total of €147,000, per year, and of former minister, MP and civil servant Christodoulos Veniamin who gets €108,000 a year in pension benefits. Meanwhile the average pension for people in the private sector is around €500.
Politis said the gag order was clearly aimed at checking the leaks to the press. According to the paper, on November 25, the Social Insurance Department issued a circular to its employees who have access to the pensions database. The circular warns employees that it is illegal to “leak” information, that it is a criminal offence to do so and that it will be dealt with as such.
The department says it is illegal to disclose information on a person’s pension benefits because this information is private.
Politis has asked the Commissioner for the Protection of Personal Data to confirm whether this is the case, but has yet to receive an answer.
The Social Insurance Department moreover asks its staff to sign their names on the circular after reading it.
In addition, the circular lets it be known that it is possible, through special software already installed on the department’s system, to trace the computer terminal from where such sensitive information has been – or will be – accessed or viewed.
Head of the department Theofanis Tryfonos confirmed to Politis that such a circular was issued, but said this was routine. He said that from time to time the department “reminds” its staff of the confidentiality regulations in place. He could not explain, however, why the staff there were also asked to sign the memo.
Politis followed up yesterday, publishing the income data of former Health Minister and current MP Dina Akkelidou.
Akkelidou is entitled to two pensions, while also being paid a deputy’s salary. She gets €1,378 in retirement pension, €2,369 in government pension, and €3,543 for her deputy’s salary. As an MP, she also receives a representation allowance of €1,895, plus €1,025 in allowance for her personal assistants. In total, her income amounts to a little over €10,200 a month.
According to the paper, Akkelidou is not entitled to a government pension as a former minister, having only served less than 18 months in that post. However, the Cabinet “credited” her with extra years for service in the public sector, specifically as former head of the State Laboratory, thus fulfilling the requirement for a government pension.
Akkelidou began receiving the retirement pension in March 2009, when she turned 63.
The paper plans to publish more data on other senior civil servants. Politis said the practice in Cyprus was in stark contrast to the norm in the European Union, where a member of the public can have instant access to the income information of civil servants, MEPS and commissioners. It is, after all, the taxpayer who pays for the civil servants’ wages and pensions.
