Stranded Kazakh passengers finally go home

By Charlie Charalambous

SOME 87 passengers stranded at Paphos airport on Monday by a legal wrangle over their charter company’s unpaid debts finally left for Kazakhstan via Moscow last night.

However, the Tupolev 154, which brought them to Paphos from Athens remains grounded at the airport until a Nicosia court decides otherwise.

Lawyers for local company United Perlite Industries Ltd secured an injunction order against charter firm Sayakhat Ltd, claiming it owed them $300.000.

Nicos Clerides, representing UPI Ltd, yesterday told the Cyprus Mail that negotiations to resolve the matter amicably had failed after intensive negotiations.

He said a bank guarantee for the outstanding money had been offered, but that the bank in question was not acceptable.

“We cannot accept a guarantee from a Kazakhstan bank that might not exist. There can be no progress unless the guarantee comes from a reputable bank.”

Clerides now believes that only court action will settle the parties’ differences.

“To lift the order against the injunction, they must prove good cause why the judgment should not continue, or offer security for the debt.”

A Nicosia district court will hear the case tomorrow morning.

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.