THE AUDITOR-GENERAL’S report into the Cyprus’ EU presidency secretariat has found that parts of the procedure followed to hire personnel were flawed.
The report by Auditor-general Chrystalla Yiorkadji – to be handed to the House Watchdog Committee today – covers the tendering procedures followed by the secretariat after news reports of dodgy appointments.
The full details of the report will not be made public until today, but an advance copy leaked to Sigma TV last night revealed that the Auditor-general believes the criteria set for the disputed position of events co-ordinator did not reflect the requirements of the position.
The events coordinator at the secretariat resigned two weeks ago “for reasons of dignity” after daily Politis uncovered he was the boss’ daughter’s boyfriend.
Athanasios Kagiaras, 28, got the €60K job ahead of three other applicants, despite reportedly having no events management experience, because he submitted the lowest bid.
It turned out he was a long-term cohabitant of the daughter of Andreas Moleskis, head of the Cyprus EU Presidency office.
In her report the Auditor-general seems to question the major criteria for the appointment being the lowest bid.
“Since it had been decided to follow a summary process with the key criteria being the lowest bid, then the selection should have been done in a manner such as that all who were selected would meet all the criteria laid out,” she says in her report, implying that other criteria, such as experience, should have been given greater consideration.
The secretariat, which set a ceiling of €120,000 for the post of events coordinator, had opted for a summary procedure by inviting offers from interested candidates. After reviewing some 300 resumes, it drew up a short list of five people and asked them to submit their offers.
One of the interested parties eventually dropped out, while three of the remaining applicants each made the secretariat an offer €119,500 – €500 below the €120K ceiling. Kagiaras bested them by making an offer of €119,000 – which landed him the job.
Days after the connection between Kagiaras and Moleskis went public, it also emerged that a Moleskis relative by marriage (who happens to be on secondment from Moleskis’ old department) was on the approval committee.
The coincidences kept piling up after Politis reported that the four bidders for the job of events coordinator, as well as Moleskis’ daughter Melina, all knew each other. One of the applicants studied at the LSE at the same time as Melina and, when quizzed by the paper, did not deny being friends.
Asked to comment, Andreas Moleskis said there was nothing necessarily reproachable in the applicants knowing each other, and that this did not in of itself constitute an irregularity in the process.
“It is not the first or the last time that people applying for the same job will come from similar backgrounds and may have earned their degrees studying at the same place. Besides, how are we supposed to know whether the applicants are friends?”
But even more eyebrows were raised this weekend after reports that Melina Moleskis has been hired by the Finance Ministry for a position at Cyprus’ permanent representation at the EU on a €5000 per month salary.
“How come they all bid so close to the ceiling? Did someone have inside information?” said DISY MP Georgios Georgiou, who chairs the House Watchdog Committee.
Georgiou also drew attention to reports that Cyprus’ EU presidency secretariat had ignored expressions of interest from a number of former diplomats and retired civil servants.
Politis has revealed that Theofilos Theofilou, Cyprus’ former permanent representative to the EU, wrote to the President last November conveying his interest in offering his services to Cyprus’ EU Presidency. His letter was forwarded to Moleskis and to Foreign Miniister Marcos Kyprianou.
Having received no response whatsoever, in April of this year Theofilou wrote to the President a second time, informing Christofias among other things that he was ready to work free of charge. “In the event my services are accepted, they would be offered without pay and with no financial consideration from the state,” he wrote. Again no response came.
DISY spokesman Harris Georgiades, who sits on the House Watchdog Committee, said yesterday that his party holds President Christofias personally accountable for any irregularities at the EU Presidency office, since it was he who handpicked Moleskis to head the secretariat.
“Evidently, some saw the EU Presidency as an opportunity to set up a mechanism for cushy jobs for family and party, to the detriment of our country’s credibility,” Georgiades said.
He went on to warn that certain quarters in Europe are already making noises about Cyprus’ capacity to handle the EU Presidency, and that possible scandals at the secretariat would be the last nail in the coffin.
Georgiades told the Mail that the norm for an EU member-state was to bring its EU Presidency affairs under a governmental ministry, usually the Foreign Ministry.
In the case of Cyprus, he added, the President decided that control of the EU Presidency office would pass into the hands of one man – Moleskis.
