THE NATIONAL Guard’s (NG) former Deputy Commander and the former Foreign Minister both told the Mari investigative committee yesterday that they were not responsible for the actual manner of storage of the deadly cargo which exploded on July 11.
“The cargo was not and never became the NG’s property. The NG was only responsible for keeping it. So as Deputy Commander, I did not have authority over this cargo,” former NG Deputy Commander Savvas Argyrou told the committee.
“The Foreign Ministry’s (FM) role was only to keep watch in case any (state) services did anything to expose Cyprus diplomatically,” ex FM Marcos Kyprianou said.
The Foreign Ministry was only responsible for the political and diplomatic decision to confiscate and unload the cargo of the Cypriot-flagged Monchegorsk ship headed to Syria with Iranian munitions, Kyprianou said.
Both men said, using the same words, that their “opinion was not asked for” regarding the actual storage of the cargo, which was left exposed to the elements for two years from its confiscation until the explosion.
Kyprianou said this was because the responsibility lay with the Defence Ministry and not with his ministry.
Argyrou said that the issue was “being handled at a very high level from the NG chief and above.”
“Decisions were taken outside my level (of authority) as Deputy Commander,” Argyrou said.
Argyrou said that the only time the NG commander asked him his opinion was on the morning of the deadly explosion.
“My opinion was never asked and I never expressed an opinion on how and where the cargo was stored,” Argyrou said.
“At some point during those two-and-a-half years… you must have learned of the cargo’s danger,” the committee’s head, Polys Polyviou, told Argyrou.
“After the minor explosion on one container on July 7 (2011),” Argyrou said.
Polyviou however pointed out that Argyrou was one of the people who signed a May 2009 letter to the Defence Ministry stating that the containers’ exposure to the elements was potentially dangerous – explicitly mentioning the threat of explosion. “What more needed to be said?” Polyviou asked.
“As the National Guard, we pointed out the dangers to the Defence Ministry and we waited for their actions on the issue,” Argyrou said adding that the NG did not have full authority over the cargo.
“When there is immediate threat… endangering the lives of property, never mind lives, it’s no longer a matter of who’s handling what… if it’s within an army camp… the responsibility is there,” Polyviou said adding that the matter of jurisdiction should have been brushed aside.
“We send that letter exactly so we could get instructions… I wasn’t able to destroy the containers or move them anywhere,” Argyrou said.
“Couldn’t you personally, or someone else from the NG take action into their own hands? Polyviou asked.
“That didn’t concern the Deputy Commander,” Argyrou said.
Kyprianou said he was only involved in politics and told Polyviou that Christofias’ promises were to Bashar al-Assad in Syria that they would keep the cargo and return it when possible were merely “diplomatic.”
Moving on to the Ministry’s involvement with the cargo, Kyprianou said that the letters the NG and Defence Ministry sent to the FM were misplaced because it did not have the jurisdiction to act.
But “since the NG did not have a problem with the storage of the cargo, the Cabinet didn’t need to be involved,” Kyprianou said.
He did however add that the permanent secretary, Nicos Emiliou, was involved in decision making despite the latter’s proclamations to the contrary.
But “there was specific mention of an exceptionally serious situation” in one of the NG’s letters, Polyviou said.
“Possible dangers were mentioned,” Kyprianou conceded, adding that in February this year he had called to discuss the situation, where he proposed to send gunpowder samples to Greece. “The suggestion that there was immediate danger was not transmitted,” he said.
“No one objected, no one pointed out the process would take long… we were even discussing selling part of the cargo,” Kyprianou said. It was all “perhaps, perhaps, perhaps,” Kyprianou added.
The hearing, including a continuation of Kyprianou’s interview, continues tomorrow.
