THE former director of the President’s Office, Vasos Georgiou, yesterday said he would sue the Republic of Cyprus if the Attorney-general’s rejection of his employment contract – providing among others almost €170,000 as a retirement bonus – was accepted.
Georgiou also refuted reports he attempted to increase his bonus from the state by €100,000.
In a lengthy announcement yesterday, Georgiou denied reports claiming he had returned his bonus on two occasions to wait out for a much bigger payment, which would be estimated based on the last of three contracts he signed with the state.
The third contract – which according to Politis newspaper yesterday provided his bonus was estimated based on a sixth of his final salary, multiplied by his entire terms both as director of the President’s Office and the director of the House President’s Office, amounting to 109 months – was co-signed by President Demetris Christofias.
But Georgiou yesterday insisted that he neither sought to increase his retirement bonus, nor for it to be paid out.
“This I expected to happen according to the provisions of the contract, which never happened,” he said.
“I was given a contract by the president and I accepted it. But something that has never happened in any other state in the world has happened here: the president comes and offers a contract to someone, and another state official comes and says it doesn’t apply. My contracts were signed by the president, not the neighbourhood butcher.”
He said that for five months now – since he voluntarily retired after his office became implicated in a nepotism scandal, even though it was stressed that no responsibility lay with Georgiou himself – he had been waiting for his retirement bonus.
In the meantime, he had to take out personal loans for medical reasons.
Georgiou wondered why the same uproar had not been heard when Government Spokesman Stefanos Stefanou received his retirement bonus, which Georgiou claimed was paid out under exactly the same contract terms and agreements for when they both worked at parliament – in exactly the same office at exactly the same time.
“When he left, they paid him his full bonus. With me, they say it has to be cut up in three, due to my three separate terms. Stefanou was paid with continuous service, as was (current House President) Marios Garoyian, when he served in the same post as we did,” said Georgiou, adding: “With me, they say no.”
He also wondered why nobody had reacted to his contract in the 33 months that he was in office. “They had the opportunity to do so for 33 months; the contract was sent to all relevant departments from the very first day – the Auditor-general, the Accountant-general, the Finance Ministry and so on. They had 33 months to doubt it; no one did.”
Georgiou said he plans to sue for libel.
According to Politis yesterday, Georgiou had signed a contract with President Christofias to estimate his retirement bonus, not just based on his 28 months in the President’s Office, but also with the addition of his 81-month term in the House President’s Office, from 2001 until 2008.
The additions would have cost the state an added €100,000. So according to his contract, Georgiou would be entitled to one sixth of his wage – €1,543 – multiplied by 109 months: €168,241.50.
The paper also claimed he had rejected two previous bonuses, estimated on contracts signed during his two terms as Director of the House President’s Office, as he was expecting a much higher cheque it if was to be estimated on his final contract. This too was vehemently denied by Georgiou.
Furthermore, Politis reported that during his term in the President’s Office, Georgiou was making €9,261 a month, plus a government pension for his 30-year service at the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) amounting to €3,110.89. In total, Georgiou was receiving €12,371.89 a month.
This was angrily rejected by Georgiou yesterday, who said the paper had omitted to add that he “only received” half of that sum.
Georgiou served at the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) for 30 years, from 1971 until 2001.
