Case filed in Paphos road-sign scam

The case involving the road signs scam that cheated Paphos municipality out of an estimated €300,000 has been filed with Paphos district court.

The first hearings in the case have been scheduled on February 8 and 13.

The development comes after the attorney-general’s office determined there was sufficient evidence to press charges. The scam was first uncovered in December 2014.

According to the Cyprus News Agency, implicated in the case are nine individuals – former and current employees of the municipality, and the directors of two private firms manufacturing/supplying the road signs.

They face charges of conspiracy to commit a felony, forgery and circulation of forged documents, obtaining money under false pretences, theft, abuse of power and abuse of trust.

The case relates to orders made for road signs without the approval – as it later transpired – of the municipal council.

It was previously reported that fake invoices were used for some of the orders.

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.