‘Bad deal on garbage for Larnaca and Famagusta residents’

A PROBE has discovered irregularities in a waste management contract signed by the previous administration, which need to be investigated further, Interior Minister Socratis Hasikos said on Thursday.

The minister said the findings of the investigation into the contract concerning a waste management unit that serves Larnaca and Famagusta has been handed over to the attorney-general for further action.

“I took this decision after studying the report and on the basis of the recommendation of the investigating officer,” Hasikos said. “At first glance very serious issues arise having to do with either negligence or expediency, or both, that need more in-depth investigation at a criminal level.”

When he ordered the probe back in July, Hasikos had suggested that the contract signed was extremely favourable to the private contractor, resulting in high garbage fees for local residents.

“It is now clear that residents of the Larnaca and Famagusta districts are shouldering the additional cost of an extremely bad deal along with the effects of the economic crisis the previous government left us,” Hasikos said.

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