CyTA fined £165,000 for officials refusal to allow access to his computer

THE CYPRUS Telecommunications Authority (CyTA) is to pay a whopping £165,000 fine for the refusal of its general manager to allow the competition watchdog access to his workstation.
Back in March, agents from the Competition Commission staged a raid on CyTA and LTV offices, seizing written documents and computer data. The watchdog was investigating allegations that the two organisations breached competition laws by forging an exclusive deal for the transmission of digital television.
But at the time Nicos Timotheou, general manager of CyTA, denied officials access to his workplace computer, citing confidentiality and privacy reasons.
Amid a climate of hostility against the CyTA-LTV deal, his move raised suspicions that Timotheou had something to hide.
Timotheou remained defiant in the face of stiff penalties for non-co-operation. The initial refusal to co-operate was punishable by a £25,000 fine, plus £5,000 for each additional day of non-compliance.
Now, almost a month later, the figure has risen to £165,000; however, it is not Timotheou who will pick up the tab, but his employers – CyTA.
According to reports, Timotheou eventually caved in to pressure from within, but only after some frantic behind-the-scenes negotiations and correspondence. Competition Commission (CC) agents were finally cleared yesterday to examine Timotheou’s computer.
But Timotheou did so grudgingly, informing both CyTA and the CC that he reserved all his legal rights.
In its rationale in imposing the fine, the Commission had noted: “If all the employees of semi-governmental organisations, private businesses and state corporations and government departments were to refuse access to their desk or computer, then the Commission’s work would be crippled.”
Critics point to the fact that ultimately it’s the taxpayer who will foot the bill for the obstinacy of a public utilities employee.
And the more cynical say that deleting data on a computer is a matter of minutes or hours at the most, let alone the 28 days that have passed since the Commission’s raid.

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.