GREEN Dot’s board members will hand their letters of resignation to the company shareholders during a general meeting set to take place next month, chairman Michalis Spanos said on Wednesday.
Speaking during a press conference, Spanos told reporters the decision was taken because the board “does not accept any of the charges without proper investigation and to protect the integrity of its members from the attempt to shame them.”
The stakeholder-owned company came under fire last week after Paphos mayor Phedonas Phedonos accused it of levying “illegal and excessive charges” on collections of recyclable waste and operating as a monopoly, making his accusations public.
Spanos said he had earlier met with Auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides to whom “we have made clear they are welcome to come and investigate anything.”
“Green Dot Cyprus has never refused any checks, we don’t care if the Auditor-general is allowed to conduct an investigation or not and this is something we clarified since August 2014 to the Environment Commissioner, Ioanna Panayiotou.”
He pleaded with Michaelides to hasten the checks on Green Dot despite the audit service’s workload, so that matters could be clarified as soon as possible.
Spanos said the board would be taking legal action against the Paphos municipality to collect its dues as the authority had stopped paying them in protest over claims of excessive charges.
After months of warnings that they would terminate the collaboration with the municipality, Green Dot proceeded to make the move last week.
“Paphos municipality owes more than one year of payments,” Spanos said.
Commenting on the ongoing saga, he told reporters if he had any differences with someone “I would discuss it with them and if I didn’t get anywhere I would report it without making a scene and pointing fingers.”
However, if Phedonos called for dialogue Green Dot would not refuse it, he told reporters.
Spanos added that on Wednesday, the board had received a letter from the Environment Department saying Green Dot Cyprus had a “duty” to continue to operate in local authorities, even if they refused to pay.
Following legal advice “we do not accept this admonition” he said.
In a bid to demonstrate the company’s want of transparency, the chairman told reporters that over the years, they had sent three letters to interior ministers regarding the Koshi landfill in Larnaca, of which the operator Helector is being investigated by police for an over-charging scam involving alleged kickbacks to officials.
