A ROW has broken out between CyBC (Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation) chairman Makis Keravnos and his predecessor Andreas Aloneftis over the finances of the state broadcaster.
A former Finance Minister, Keravnos was reportedly shell-shocked on hearing that members of the board attended around 10 subcommittees, each time receiving £50 just for showing up.
Each member of the board sat on three to four of these subcommittees, which met once a week, which worked out to £600 extra a month on top of their salaries.
Keravnos said this was outrageous, comparing the situation to that at the Hellenic Bank, where he is a senior executive. He said the bank, which employs thousands of people, did not need so many subcommittees, wondering why a small organisation such as the CyBC did.
But the money wasting, Keravnos found, extended to other areas. For example, the previous board had hired a foreign adviser, on the handsome salary of £3,500 per month.
But when Keravnos investigated, he discovered that the adviser’s biggest contribution was to suggest the winding staircase placed inside the main news studio.
To his dismay, he also found that the board poked its nose into matters outside its mandate, such as choosing the newscaster for the TV bulletin.
Keravnos therefore wants to abolish the subcommittees, saying that the board of directors is more than enough for decision-making in the CyBC.
But Aloneftis has not taken kindly to the comments, suggesting that Keravnos jumped to conclusions.
According to Aloneftis, the subcommittees would not meet often, and when they did they would usually coincide with sessions of the board, so that attendants did not receive extra fees.
Moreover, the fee for attendance was £35, not £50, Aloneftis added.
He also pointed to the fact that, under his watch, the CyBC cut down on staff and was forced to operate with reduced funding from the government.
Back in 2004, when coincidentally Keravnos was Finance Minister, the government initiated major expenditure cuts at the CyBC, as part of broader efforts to slash public sector spending.
According to some estimates, the state broadcaster pays around £1 million in overtime each year.
