Greens question CYTA freebies to public officials

By Constantinos Psillides

CYTA spokesman Lefteris Christou denied yesterday that the telecommunications authority offers free services to MPs and other state officials.

Christou was responding to a story run by daily Phileleftheros, saying that Greens MP Giorgos Perdikis asked the permanent secretary of the Finance ministry Christos Patsalides, who is also chairman of the state owned company, to say which officials benefited from free CYTA services or at a reduced price.

“The only free service we provide the state is free Cytavision for the presidential palace. Our platform carries a large variety of news channels that palace officials need to watch to stay informed on current affairs,” Christou said.

However, Perdikis didn’t follow standard procedure to submit his question. MPs usually do so through the House channels and wait for an official answer.

The Greens’ MP preferred to address the permanent secretary directly, probably in an attempt to avoid the content of his letter leaking to the press.

“The information we had was different, but if CyTA says the service is limited to the presidential palace then I’m satisfied,” Perdikis later told the Mail.

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.