THE TESTIMONY by a Defence Ministry official at yesterday’s Mari hearing revealed some of the shoddy and lackadaisical manner in which the army and state approached the deadly Monchegorsk cargo.
The inquiry heard that former Defence Minister Costas Papacostas had been “terrified” when he was told one of the 98 containers had bulged in the heat but he was told by a senior officer that the army knew what was happening and would “deal with it”
Papacostas had also allegedly berated Foreign Minster Marcos Kyprianou for “dumping” the munitions on him.
It was also revealed at yesterday’s hearing that Papacostas had decided the munitions should be destroyed, beginning on July 11, the day they exploded, killing 13 men and knocking out the island’s main power station.
The testimony was being given by Panayiotis Stylianides, a project manager at the defence ministry. He said he had been informed by the former National Guard vice commander Savvas Argyrou on July 8, that Papacostas and his staff had decided to destroy the dangerous munitions instead of dousing the container with water as had been previously decided.
According to Stylianides, Argyrou said: “They decided not to douse them and start burning the batch.”
“They would have proceeded to burn the batch on Monday (July 11). It would have been done by the ordnance corps,” Stylianides said.
However, Stylianides said he has no evidence to back this, adding that he is basing his claim on what Argyrou told him.
Asked by investigator Polys Polyviou if the shoddiness exhibited in this matter was a usual phenomenon, Stylianides said “yes, as well as other cases.”
Testifying about a July 5 urgent meeting with the minister, Stylianides described Papacostas as being terrified after finding out that one of the containers had bulged.
“When I entered the minister’s office I saw our minister … terrified. He was panicking because he was told a container had bulged,” Stylianides said.
Stylianides said he told Papacostas that he should brief the President, but the minister replied that Demetris Christofias was visiting the Ukraine at the time.
Papacostas suggested that if necessary Cyprus would call in representatives from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
But he was told by Colonel Giorgos Georgiades, commander of the ordnance corps at the time, that foreign experts were not necessary.
“We know what’s happening and we will deal with the matter,” Georgiades said according to Stylianides.
Georgiades himself had warned Argyrou of the risks just days before the blast, a second witness told the inquiry yesterday.
Lieutenant Colonel (LtC) Nicos Georgiades, said he was in Argyrou’s office on July 5 when Colonel Georgiades came in and when asked what was going on he said: “If I were in your place I would raise the red alert.”
Asked what red alert meant, LtC Georgiades said it is one of the alert levels during war.
“I think it is the highest level.”
LtC Georgiades said Argyrou stared the colonel in the eyes he was staring in his eyes without saying anything.
Then Argyrou changed the subject, LtC Georgiades said.
Testifying about a February 7, 2011 meeting at the defence ministry, LtC Georgiades said Papacostas had realised the risks while former foreign minister Kyprianou was concerned about the political aspects of the matter.
The two ministers were sitting next to each other and at some point Papacostas turned to Kyprianou and said “Marcos, you’ve dumped them on me and backed away,” LtC Georgiades said.
He said while Papacostas was going on about safety and the unstable nature of explosives, Kyprianou analysed the political and financial aspects.
“And the discussion went into the details, whether we would sell the cargo, where the money would go and if we should pay VAT to the European Union …” Georgiades said.
He added that Kyprianou had said he wanted to buy time.
LtC Georgiades told the meeting that humidity, temperature and time negatively affected the cargo and then Kyprianou suggested sending samples to labs to check if the gunpowder had been altered.
LtC Georgiades told Kyprianou that these were time-consuming procedures but “I believe that the delay might have suited him since he had said before that ‘I want to buy time.’”
