Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 99-06-15

Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cynews.com/>

Tuesday, June 15, 1999

CONTENTS

[01] Lu biscuits taken off dioxin list

[02] Kinezos claims statement was given under duress

[03] Strike warning at Eurocypria

[04] Shipping Department pledges to stand firm despite court case

[05] Officials blame tender delays as kidney medicine runs out

[06] Kurd jailed despite persecution plea

[07] Shares fall as trade shifts away from banks

[08] Driver jailed for hit-and-run death

[09] Twelfth Night for Curium

[10] Hail storms wreck fruit crops

[01] Lu biscuits taken off dioxin list

THE HEALTH Ministry yesterday announced that the Lu brand of biscuits would be removed from the government's list of foods suspected of dioxin poisoning.

The biscuits involved were Choco Prince and Pim's biscuits made by LU and imported to Cyprus by Iacovos Photiades Ltd.

The official statement said investigations had shown that the supply of biscuits on the island had been manufactured in 1998 and so did not fall in the January 15 and June 1 danger period.

The statement also noted that the other range of Lu biscuits on the market had been manufactured in France and so were not connected to the infected Belgian food.

Iacovos Photiades of the importing company on Saturday announced he wanted the Health Ministry publicly to apologise for including the biscuits on a list of 104 suspected products, or he would sue the government.

The Health Ministry on Friday published the brand-names of 104 food items and four animal feeds from Belgium and other EU countries suspected of contamination by dioxin, a highly toxic compound that causes cancer.

Meanwhile, a specially appointed committee investigating the problem met for three hours yesterday without announcing any future action.

The Head of the Veterinary Service, Pavlos Economides, who attended the meeting, said that a banning order taken out on importing foodstuffs from Belgium and other affected countries would remain in effect for the foreseeable future.

But he insisted that once the ban was lifted, strict testing of all products would continue, with goods requiring at least four safety certificates before being allowed entry.

The suitability of specific animal products, milk by-products, sunscreens and cosmetics was not discussed during yesterday's meeting, Economides said.

The committee is set to meet again today.

Tuesday, June 15, 1999

[02] Kinezos claims statement was given under duress

THE HAMBIS Aeroporos murder trial hit legal complications yesterday when the criminal court agreed to hear claims that a police statement had been unlawfully obtained.

If yesterday's slow, stop-start procedure is anything to go by, then the murder trial in Nicosia could take many months before any verdict is reached.

Presiding judge Michalis Photiou upheld an objection by defence lawyer Nicos Clerides who said his client -- ex-special constable Savvas Ioannou alias Kinezos -- had given his testimony to police under duress, and that it was therefore inadmissible.

The three-bench court decided that a "trial within a trial" would now need to take place on the validity of Ioannou's statement.

Clerides said the statement was taken by CID last December 17 using "psychological pressure", and was acquired only by suggesting some form of give and take.

Prosecutor Petros Clerides asked for an adjournment until next week to be briefed on the circumstances of the suspect's detainment in custody.

"I am not fully informed on how the statement was taken or how the accused was detained and transferred to and from police headquarters," said Petros Clerides.

The court adjourned and scheduled to hear "trial within a trial" witness testimonies on three consecutive days from June 23.

In a further development, which also held up the trial proper, defence lawyer Neophytos Papamiltiadou withdrew from proceedings after saying he no longer wanted to represent Ioannou because of "differences" with co-defence lawyer Clerides.

"We do not agree on the same line of defence so I withdraw," Papamiltiadou told the court yesterday.

Ioannou, 33, is one of five suspects charged in connection with the brutal killing of Aeroporos, who was slain in Limassol by masked gunmen last December 16.

The four other defendants in the high-profile murder trial are policeman Christos Symeonides, 35, waiter Prokopis Prokopi, 35, cabaret owner Sotiris Athinis, 43, and his 51-year-old sister and hospital cleaner Zoe Alexandrou.

Yesterday's proceedings saw a huge security operation which, as the days turn into months, is likely to turn this trial into one of the most expensive in legal history.

Tuesday, June 15, 1999

[03] Strike warning at Eurocypria

EUROCYPRIA pilots will announce the date of a proposed four-hour stoppage within the week, their union said yesterday.

They are protesting against Cyprus Airways (CY) Board of Directors' delay in giving the green light for the filling of a captain vacancy in the profit-making charter firm.

"Our union has tried every possible way to convince the Cyprus Airways Board of Directors to honour our agreement," said Eurocypria pilot's spokesman Constantinos Pitsillides.

"The Board keeps asking for a further delay of 'a few months' in filling the captain position in Eurocypria. In a few months though there will not be a captain vacancy in Eurocypria to fill any more since the summer period will be over."

No date has been fixed for the work stoppage. Eurocypria sources said they had already postponed the strike action twice so far.

The charter firm's pilots' union has a clear agreement with the Board that any future captain positions in the airline should be filled by Eurocypria co-pilots.

There are 34 pilots in Eurocypria, ten of whom are members of CY pilots' union Pasipy, which lays claims to any promotions in the charter airline.

Eurocypria pilots accuse CY chairman Takis Kyriakides of stalling on the promotions issue for fear of provoking a Pasipy strike which would devastate the national carrier.

"We have been very reluctant to announce strike action but it seems that this will be the only way to claim what has been officially characterised by the company as being rightfully ours," Pitsillides said.

He said CY had another 15 days to fulfil its obligations to the Eurocypria pilots.

CY has acknowledged that a valid agreement exists between management and Eurocypria pilots for the filling of captain vacancies, but says it has merely asked them for a delay in implementing the agreement in order to conclude discussions with Pasipy on the overall issue of pilot positions within the two companies.

When Eurocypria was "Cypriotised" several years ago, 10 British captains left the company and were replaced by CY pilots because the charter firm's co-pilots were not experienced enough for the job of captain at that time.

But under last year's agreement, the Eurocypria co-pilots were finally due to fill the vacancies in their own company.

The CY Board is now faced with the dilemma of either keeping to the agreement and provoking a strike by Pasipy or not keeping it and provoking a strike by Eurocypria.

Tuesday, June 15, 1999

[04] Shipping Department pledges to stand firm despite court case

THE DEPARTMENT of Merchant Shipping (DMS) yesterday hit out at a £5 million lawsuit by a major ship management company which is claiming defamation over the alleged standard of one of its vessels.

In an official statement, the DMS said the lawsuit would not in any way be allowed to affect the government's policy and mandate to upgrade the safety standards of Cyprus ships.

Cyprus has the world's sixth-largest fleet, with over 2,500 vessels under its open flag.

In an attempt to clean up the registry's image as a 'Flag of Convenience' (FoC) the DMS has been implementing a tougher safety regime on its fleet.

This recently included an unprecedented move by the DMS publicly to complain that in several cases surveyors from the ship classification society NKK had carried out inadequate inspections on Cyprus-flagged ships, leading to the detention of several allegedly substandard vessels at foreign ports.

One of the ships, Polmar, whose apparent condition led to the complaint, is managed by Transmed Shipping, who lodged the lawsuit. Another Transmed vessel, Cathy, was later named by the DMS in a list of six ships it claimed were prompted to withdraw from the Cyprus registry because of pressure over their alleged condition.

Transmed is an Athens-based company whose entire 21-strong fleet of cargo ships is registered under the Cyprus flag.

The company is headed by Cypriot Charalambos Mylonas, who is also the president of the Cypriot Shipowners Association.

Transmed has named the Cyprus Republic, DMS Director Serghios Serghiou, senior surveyor Andreas Constantinou and another shipping official in its suit.

It claims the company has been damaged by the allegedly "false and malicious" statements made by the senior DMS officials and in particular Captain Constantinou, who Transmed says made slanderous statements to the foreign press by suggesting the classification society was unable to keep tabs on its own inspectors who had performed allegedly inadequate surveys.

A Transmed statement said the Polmarhad been inspected by two different societies independently and that a Cypriot inspector in Germany had also surveyed the ship after the other two inspections, confirming in writing their findings that the Polmarhad no structural problems.

"During all this time, it was also inspected at various ports in Brazil and Germany and at no time was the survey doubted or any structural deficiency noted," the Transmed statement said.

The Polmarwas recently detained in the US, but Transmed has attributed the vessel's problems to bad weather on the way to Virginia.

The statement by Mylonas claims a Cypriot surveyor had been invited to attend the US coastguard's inspection of the Polmar's arrival at Hampton Roads but declined because he was "preparing for his holidays".

This was denied by the DMS yesterday. "The truth was that the surveyor mentioned as not aware of the ship's detention... the surveyor was flying on the same day for Cyprus," the DMS statement said.

Referring to the Cypriot survey in Germany, the statement said inspections did not always cover structural integrity of a vessel, particularly if it was loaded. "Verification of the structural integrity of loaded ships cannot be made," the statement said. The statement does not say whether or not the Polmarwas loaded.

Constantinou said that following its detention in the US, the Polmarwas allowed after temporary repairs to make a single non-transatlantic journey to complete the work. He said the ship was currently in Aruba, a small island in the Caribbean, undergoing repairs but would not be allowed by the DMS to sail without an inspection by a Cypriot surveyor.

In the meantime, the ship's owners have applied to have the Polmarremoved from the Cyprus registry.

Tuesday, June 15, 1999

[05] Officials blame tender delays as kidney medicine runs out

The director of the Pharmaceutical Service, Evthinios Kkolos, said yesterday the erythropoetine medicine would be arriving soon.

Kkolos told CyBC radio that a supplying company had finally been chosen and an order placed. "We told them it was urgent and we hope to have the medicine within the next few days."

He said there had been some kind of delay in the tender process, without specifying what this was. On Sunday, Politisclaimed it had received information that government officials had allegedly presented misleading information to the tender committee so that the order would go to a specific supplier.

Kkolos told CyBC said that erythropoetine was used to improve the quality of life for kidney patients undergoing dialysis and that supplies had run out a few days earlier.

He said the Health Ministry always tried to act responsibly and ensure medicines were available for all patients.

But New Horizons vice-president Stavros Panayides said he was "saddened by Kkolos' lighthearted statement that the medicine was on its way."

He called for the Attorney-general and Auditor-general to investigate the delay and discover who was at fault.

He said the issue had implications on the health-care of the whole country and added his party would be investigating more information it had on the issue.

The Association for the Protection of Patients' Rights has also expressed concern, with vice-president Louiza Mavromatis quoted by Politisas saying something was "rotten" in the medicine tender system.

A government statement yesterday said that in light of the information available, further action by Health Ministry was not necessary.

Tuesday, June 15, 1999

[06] Kurd jailed despite persecution plea

Tekin Temirkayia, 24, received the sentence from Famagusta District Court after admitting to illegally coming onto the island through occupied Famagusta harbour.

Temirkayia was arrested on Sunday after he crossed into the free areas through Dherynia and tried to persuade a taxi driver to take him to a lawyer's office in Nicosia.

A passing police patrol spotted him trying to make himself understood to the taxi driver and arrested him.

Temirkayia's intention, he told the court yesterday, was to request political asylum.

He said that he was a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Worker's Party, the PKK, and that he was being persecuted by the Turkish authorities after refusing to carry out his military service.

He said he managed to escape to the Turkish town of Mersin from where he took a ship to the occupied areas.

He worked in occupied Nicosia as an apprentice furniture-builder until he was located by the Turkish Cypriot authorities. He then moved on to occupied Famagusta and then crossed at Dherynia.

He told the court that he had not been aware that it was illegal to enter the Republic from the occupied areas.

When passing sentence, judge Tefkros Economou said, "the accused has the sympathy of the citizens of the Republic of Cyprus because of the continuing drama of the Kurdish people, but the Republic's authorities have a rising obligation to protect the sovereignty of the Republic. The need to protect this sovereignty is of vital importance as a result of the consequences of the invasion and the situation in Cyprus today."

Temirkayia is the second Kurd to be jailed by Judge Economou this month, despite claims of persecution at the hands of the Turkish authorities.

Tuesday, June 15, 1999

[07] Shares fall as trade shifts away from banks

The index closed at 153.08, 0.30 per cent down on Friday, and volume was a healthy £10.35 million.

Traders said profit-taking in the blue-chips of the banks, which account for nearly 70 per cent of the market's capitalisation, was primarily to blame for yesterday's drop. The sector's sub-index was down by 1.25 per cent to 205.15.

Only the Bank of Cyprus finished in positive territory, closing 1.2 cents up at £6.71. The Popular Bank shed 7.3 cents to close at £3.75, while Hellenic Bank closed down 4.5 cents at £4.20.

Universal Savings Bank was the day's biggest loser, shedding off 15.9 cents to close at £2.17.

The day's trade witnessed a rare shift in investors' interest from the lucrative bank titles, some of which have appreciated by nearly 100 per cent so far this year, to other sectors.

"Now that the bank titles are a bit slow, investors are moving to trading and insurance shares which have been undervalued for some time," said Stavros Agrotis of CISCO, the Bank of Cyprus' brokerage and investment banking arm.

"The interest in the sectors, however, has been fuelled by persistent but unconfirmed rumours of possible mergers and foreign interest," said Agrotis.

All four titles listed in the trading companies' sector finished the day in positive territory, sending their sub-index soaring by 6.29 per cent to close at 64.26. Volume was unusually heavy at £1.35 million.

The insurance sector finished marginally lower at 84.59, down 0.42 per cent on Friday's close, but attracted £1.24 million in volume.

Tuesday, June 15, 1999

[08] Driver jailed for hit-and-run death

Stelios Georgiou Savvas, 33, was sentenced to 15 months in prison and had his driving licence revoked for a period of four years.

He knocked down and killed Anastasis Kyprianou at the Larnaca port round- about on August 23, 1998.

Savvas was also found guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol, refusing a breathalyser test and abandoning the scene of the accident.

Tuesday, June 15, 1999

[09] Twelfth Night for Curium

In a year which has seen the rise of Shakespeare chic, with adaptations of the bard's plays hitting the big screen, and Shakespeare in Love, starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes, winning the Best Picture Oscar, Cyprus' Shakespeare fans are to be regaled with the comic Twelfth Night. As always, proceeds from the play will be donated to the Limassol Committee for Chest Diseases. This year, the British Bases have donated £500 towards the production costs.

Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night

The first ever Shakespeare at Curium was A Midsummer Night's Dream, which was performed there in 1962. A Shakespeare play has been performed there every year since, and is now the main source of income for the Limassol Committee for Chest diseases, having raised more than £350,000 for the charity.

[10] Hail storms wreck fruit crops

Kalopanayiotis mukhtar Andreas Eliades told CyBC radio that extensive damage had been caused to vines and to a variety of fruit trees in the area.

He said that in all his 75 years, he had never seen such a fierce storm or such large hail stones and that the storm could have catastrophic consequences on the affected villages.

Agriculture organisation Eka said yesterday its representatives would access the damage today and submit a report to the Agricultural Insurance Organisation, Oga, and the Agriculture Ministry.

Police said yesterday that the Amiantos to Karvounas road had been closed because of the danger of a landslide due to the storm.

The Orkontas to Kalopanayiotis and Moutoullas to Pedhoulas roads were also pronounced dangerous because of storm debris.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999

Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article