Private contractors who were involved in the SAPA scandal got millions in public money and came out clean because they turned prosecution witnesses, Paphos mayor Phedonas Phedonos said on Tuesday.
“Those who took in tens of millions found themselves on the side of the prosecution, which is one thing.
But the worst part is that they ended up keeping that money,” Phedonos said on a CyBC talk show, adding that the SAPA project showed several construction quality issues which will take millions to fix.
Phedonos blasted the contractors, claiming that they had paid kickbacks to those tasked with overseeing the work done on the SAPA contract, claiming that one inspector even had a cheque of €30,000 made out in his name from the private contractor whose work he was supposed to be overseeing.
“To cover his tracks he sent his 80-year-old father to cash the cheque,” said Phedonos.
Meanwhile, the Public Procurement Department announced on Tuesday that it will stop all payments to the company that manages the waste management plant at Koshi, pending legal counsel from the Legal Service.
A meeting on the matter is expected to take place at the Legal Service next Tuesday. The order to stop payment followed allegations of over-charging by the operators of the Marathounda waste disposal facility in Paphos. The case is currently under investigation, which has so far resulted in the arrests of four people.
Head of the technical audit unit of the state audit office Andreas Hasapopoulos told the same CyBC talk show that new evidence has surfaced regarding the plant at Koshi. He said people involved in the case started to lose sleep over the investigation, claiming that in 2014 a private contractor visited him in his office and wanted to expose the scandal and the shady dealings taking place at the waste management plant.
Hasapopoulos said that then Auditor General Chrystalla Yiorkadji – now serving as Central Bank Governor – didn’t really look into the matter, opting instead to make a recommendation to then Paphos mayor Savvas Vergas. Vergas is currently serving a six year jail sentence on corruption charges.
The case resurfaced after Odysseas Michaelides took office, said Hasapopoulos.
On the initiative of Interior Minister Socrates Hasikos, the fee for the Koshi plant was last year renegotiated from €39 per tonne of waste, down from €75 previously. However the signing of a new contract has been pending.
Hasikos claimed two days ago that when he took over the interior ministry portfolio he ordered an administrative probe into the Koshi contract, which found possible criminal and disciplinary offences, including by government officials and employees.
