DISAPPEARING computer files, hard disks and documents from Suphire’s offices yesterday rekindled the blame game between the police and the Electricity Authority (EAC), as each side claimed they had acted impeccably since the missing £9.2 million from the authority’s pension fund surfaced.
Over the week it transpired that a great deal of evidence from the brokerage was either deleted from computers or else vanished into thin air. To critics that has not come as a shock, given that several days elapsed between the time the story made the headlines and the launch of the police investigation.
The more cynical went as far as to postulate a cover-up inside the semi-government organisation.
Stockbrokers Suphire, and CEO Yiannos Andronikou in particular, are suspected of embezzling some £9 million in shares tied to the EAC’s pension fund. Andronikou is currently in police custody, as detectives and SEC (Securities & Exchange) officers try to make sense of the mountains of financial documents belonging both to the EAC and the brokerage.
Speaking at Larnaca airport just before departing for Helsinki, Justice Minister Doros Theodorou yesterday rebutted allegations of foot dragging by law enforcement.
Theodorou said the police “acted immediately” once the case was reported to the Attorney-general’s office by the EAC, hinting that it was through the SGO’s actions that the investigation was delayed.
As expected, the suggestion was promptly rebuffed by George Georgiades, chairman of the EAC’s board. In a lengthy interview on state radio, Georgiades gave a blow-by-blow account of what the board did after it was officially informed of the discrepancy in the pension fund.
He explained that, due to a combination of factors — such as an intervening long weekend – it took three to four days until the EAC asked the Deputy Attorney-general to look into the matter. The Attorney-general’s office then immediately ordered the police to commence investigating.
Until that time no one inside Suphire had any clue that Georgiades was planning to report the case to authorities, the EAC chief added, the implication being that it was not the EAC’s fault if in fact the brokerage destroyed evidence in the meantime to cover its tracks.
However, Georgiades was brought to task over the suspension of Ioannis Koumeras, the EAC’s internal auditor. Late last week the organisation decided to suspend Koumeras, after the latter informed the board that he held an investment account with Suphire. But this information was only revealed several days after the story was picked up by the media.
Press reports say Koumeras, who was supposed to be a watchdog over the EAC’s finances, had taken out a loan of £160,000 from one of the companies belonging to the Suphire group. And reportedly a number of other senior EAC staff had personal business with the stockbrokers.
Koumeras has filed an appeal to the Supreme Court to have his suspension reversed.
Georgiades yesterday played down accusations by EAC employees unions that Koumeras has been used as a scapegoat. He argued that, since Koumeras was the internal auditor and was assisting police in the criminal investigation, it was only natural for him to be suspended as he had dealings with Suphire.
Georgiades reiterated that the action against Koumeras should not be construed as a sign that the auditor was under suspicion or guilty. But when asked by a CyBC journalist why Koumeras did not report his account with Suphire immediately, Georgiades ducked the question, merely commenting: “we have faith in the authorities… and want to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible.”
On Tuesday three unions representing EAC employees, including the important FPUEAE (Free Pancyprian Union of Electricity Authority Employees), which represents 70 per cent of EAC staff, urged the board to reconsider Koumeras’ suspension.
“We feel that this decision was taken in haste, without proper reflection…and may have been intended at creating (the wrong) impressions…” said union head Andreas Panorkos.
Panorkos pointed to an inconsistency in the board’s actions: although the EAC has said it will not conduct an internal probe until the criminal investigation is over, it has nonetheless ordered an “administrative inquiry” into Koumeras. This, argued Panorkos, inevitably turned attention to Koumeras.
Two other unions, SEPAIK (representing scientific personnel) and SIDIKEK-PEO, echoed these sentiments, calling on the EAC’s board to “assume its responsibilities”, although stopping short of spelling out that the board should resign.
On the political front, AKEL deputy Yiannakis Thoma attacked DISY’s Christos Pourgourides for distracting the public from the essence of the issue by focusing on the police’s shortcomings. Thoma implied that DISY did not want the EAC’s board touched, because the current board was appointed during the previous administration.
