Pilots accuse minister of conflict of interest

By Constantinos Psillides

CYPRUS AIRWAYS (CY) pilots’ union PASYPI issued a statement on Saturday claiming that Communications and Works Minister Marios Demetriades is the director of two companies that are linked to the Piraeus Bank.

The pilots, who have repeatedly claimed that the process to find a strategic investor for the ailing carrier is fixed, drew a line from Demetriades to Aegan Airline’s deputy manager Eftychios Vasilakis, who is also a non-executive member of the Piraeus Bank board of directors.

PASYPI claims in their statement that they made this discovery after taking a closer look at the Registrar of Companies and the Official Receiver.

“Now we have an explanation as to why they want to dismantle Cyprus Airways and saddle the state with hundreds of millions in losses. It is now obvious to all Cypriot citizens that the minister’s involvement is inconsistent with the position he holds. We ask President Nicos Anastasiades to turn his pledge for zero tolerance into action,” read the statement.

Demetriades, along with Finance Minister Harris Georgiades, is heading the committee tasked with finding a suitable strategic investor for Cyprus Airways. The pilots have been suspicious of the committee from the start, accusing the ministers of undermining the carrier by selling off its assets with the goal of selling the company to highest bidder.

Neither Demetriades nor Pireaus Bank has responded to PASYPI’s accusations.

Cyprus Airways now faces an avalanche of problems, with the press only last week reporting that the company will shut its operations down on January 9. The newly appointed board directors dismissed the reports, saying that they were working hard to come up with a restructuring plan to save the company from bankruptcy.

 

 

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.