Now SEC has fine thrown out over hiring procedures

THE CYPRUS Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was yesterday told by the Supreme Court that they were not entitled to fine Aspis Holdings because SEC members had not been hired according to correct procedures.

The Supreme Court Judge said that the positions were not advertised properly because there was no mention the required qualifications.

Furthermore, there was no explanation of how the hired members met the legal requirements for the posts, Court ruled.

The SEC had issued in 2009 an €80,000 fine to Aspis Holdings Public Company and took measures against Aspis for financial market violations.

Aspis Holdings argued however that the Commission’s members lacked the experience and training to be qualified to issue the fine.

The SEC is the second body after the Competition Commission which has seen its decisions revoked as a direct result of hiring procedures.

The Court ruled in May that the Competition Commission’s (CPC) appointment of its chairman, Costakis Christoforou, was illegal, along with a €42.9 million collusion fine on fuel companies.

The companies were fined for collusion in September 2009.

They were Hellenic Petroleum, Exxon Mobil, Petrolina and Lukoil.

The CPC remains headless.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.