A DISY MP called for an investigation yesterday into the business contracts awarded to the civil engineering company owned by the chairman of left-wing football club AC Omonia, after a series of expensive new signings.
The latest deal is the more than €1 million reportedly paid for Andreas Avraam, a Greek Cypriot national midfielder who used to play for Limassol team Apollon FC, and which comes just weeks after the signing of Congo national player Lomana Trésor LuaLua.
In a written statement yesterday, DISY deputy Andreas Kyprianou said he wanted to raise the issue of Omonia’s signings, and asked to be informed on the contracts offered to club chairman, Miltiades Neophytou, the founder of Miltiades Neophytou Civil Engineering Contractors & Developers Ltd
(CEC&D) – the company in charge of a large chunk of the island’s public work projects.
The expensive transfers and Omonia’s increased budget for 2009/2010 – estimated to be in the range of €15 million compared to the previous year’s
€10 million – has prompted Kyprianou to call on the Communications and Works Ministry, as well as other related state services, to inform parliament on the exact details of every contract offered to Neophytou’s company over the past two years.
“Omonia’s transfers are provocative in relation to the amounts that are spent to acquire footballers,” said Kyprianou. “The amounts used are outrageous and they don’t correspond to the natural abilities of a football club.”
Kyprianou said it would be useful for the public to know the procedures that have recently been followed in awarding tenders for public work projects, for reasons of full transparency.
“It is well known to everyone that Omonia’s chairman Miltiades Neophytou is the biggest contractor for public works,” he said.
“I am calling on the Communications and Works Minister and other associated ministers on public work projects to inform parliament on the amount of contracts awarded in the past two years, the budget of each and the final cost when they are handed over.”
Kyprianou also referred to the “dubious” appointment of Ocean Tankers Holdings Public Company Ltd to transfer water from Greece two years ago,
which he said had happened in record time and led to Ocean Tankers becoming Omonia’s main sponsor.
“Furthermore, rumours have been rife lately that Qatar’s state airline will become Omonia’s new sponsor,” said Kyprianou, connecting it the government’s recent mammoth deal with the Qatari state to build a luxury complex on state-owned land in Nicosia.
“All this leads to a provocative climate in public opinion, regarding the huge budget of just one club; a provocation at times that are difficult for many households,” the DISY MP concluded.
The man in charge of CEC&D’s Contracts Department, Stavros Aletraris, hit back at Kyprianou’s “insinuations” yesterday, saying there was full transparency in every single contract signed and tender won by the company.
Confirmation of this, he added, could be sought by any related official department, such as the Auditor-general or Accountant-general.
Aletraris said that the company has been in business for over 25 years and was in charge of public works during the Glafcos Clerides and Tassos Papadopoulos’ governments.
“Therefore, Mr Kyprianou’s insinuations have absolutely no basis and substance. We experience events first hand here and we would know if there was any wrongdoing,” said Aletraris, pointing out that he was talking on behalf of the company and not Omonia.
“There are various and very detailed legal frameworks, which are completely harmonised with EU laws that don’t only apply in Cyprus but many other member states,” he explained. “There is full transparency in every transaction. If we didn’t fulfil the criteria, we wouldn’t win the tenders.”
Aletraris said all tenders were accompanied by strict terms and conditions, and the lowest bid wins. “So if the complaint is that we are the cheapest, would they rather the state took on the most expensive?”
Any complaint or issue on the tenders won, he concluded, could be filed to the Tenders Review Authority.
In an announcement yesterday, Omonia AC accused Kyprianou – “former Board member and former spokesman of Apollon” – of taking advantage of the bad feeling that was created among Apollon’s fans following Avraam’s transfer.
“The insinuations he has made, the suspicions he is creating and the logical consequence of Mr Kyprianou’s statements are aimed at specific directions and unfortunately it seems they are down to personal and petty political expediencies,” the club announced.
“It is of great concern that Mr Kyprianou so easily discredits the Republic of Cyprus,” it added. “At the same time, the ease in which a deputy of the Republic occupies himself with rumours and whispers is also worrying.”
Omonia concluded that it would no longer be drawn into arguments over the matter.
- Omonia’s transfers this year so far:
- Cyprus national player Andreas Avraam – a 23-year-old midfielder considered one of Apollon Limassol’s best players. The transfer was yesterday rumoured to have cost between €750,000 and over €1 million.
- Congo DR national player Lomana Trésor LuaLua, 29 – Omonia AC’s most significant signing, who has played for big clubs such as the British
- Premier League’s Newcastle United, Leeds United and Portsmouth, as well as Greek team Olympiakos. The exact amount of the transfer has not been disclosed.
- Iago Bouzón Amoedo, a 27-year-old Spanish defender Víctor Manuel Espasandín Facal, a 25-year-old Spanish defender, who singed for FC Barcelona B in 2007 and helped the Catalans return to level three in his debut season.
- José Manuel Rueda Sampedro, 22, is a defensive midfielder from Spain, who was named captain of FC Barcelona B in the 2009/2010 season.
- Dragoslav Jevri?, a 36-year-old Serbian goalkeeper, who was member of the Serbia and Montenegro squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
- Yuval Spungin, 23, is from Israel and made his debut in the Israel National team in a friendly game against the Ukraine.
