Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 00-04-04

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cyprus-mail.com/>

Tuesday, April 4, 2000

CONTENTS

[01] Government confirms Koshis assassination fears

[02] Time for Christodoulou to spend more time with his family?

[03] Miss Universe chairman sacked

[04] Church concern over ‘satanic’ smart cards

[05] Questions raised over SBA status in EU accession process

[06] EAC denies link between pylons and leukaemia

[07] Glitch again blights new listing

[08]

[09] Fanieros released for lack of evidence

[10] Police seek hooligan after flare injury

[11] Biker races to his death

[01] Government confirms Koshis assassination fears

THE GOVERNMENT was tight-lipped yesterday amid a frenzy of media reports that British drug lords were planning to assassinate Justice Minister Nicos Koshis.

Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou would only confirm the that British and Cypriot authorities did have intelligence about plans to assassinate the minister on a weekend visit to London.

Koshis yesterday returned from the UK, where he had been attending a diaspora gathering to mark the March 25 and April 1 national holidays.

British police took draconian security measures during the visit after being tipped off on a plan to assassinate Koshis.

Reports suggested a British-based drugs gang and its Cyprus affiliates were behind the plot.

Armed police sealed off the area around London’s Bloomsbury Theatre where the Sunday meeting was taking place.

Snipers scanned the area from rooftops, while a police helicopter tracked Koshis’ car along the route to the theatre.

Five hours before Koshis arrived, police with sniffer dogs searched the theatre for bombs. Even lampposts outside the theatre were taken apart.

Guests at the function had to pass through special metal detectors installed by the Metropolitan police.

Koshis eventually arrived back in Cyprus yesterday at around 5.30pm.

His time of arrival had been kept a secret amid fears for his safety, and there were rumours his return was postponed after a suspicious individual was spotted on board the plane.

Speaking on his arrival in Larnaca, Koshis did not say who might be trying to kill him, but asserted: "No threat scares me. I will continue working the way I have until now for the good of this place."

He denied the reports that police had spotted a suspicious individual on his plane.

Earlier yesterday, acting Justice Minister, Interior Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou, had told reporters that Koshis would not be returning until today.

He avoided further comment on the threats against Koshis, saying information in the hands of British and Cypriot police had prompted the security alert.

Tuesday, April 4, 2000

[02] Time for Christodoulou to spend more time with his family?

INTERIOR Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou said yesterday he might resign, saying he ought to spend more time with his family.

Without giving any specific reason why he might step down, the minister told journalists attending a news conference on his department’s achievements that he did not know whether he would be able to keep up with the pressure of such a demanding job.

"Once someone has made a big contribution, he should give others the chance to take over," the interior minister said.

Christodoulou – a former finance minister - also quashed speculation that he might consider standing at the next presidential elections.

The resignation comments sparked a run of questions from reporters, but the Disy minister would not reveal when and whether he would actually step down.

Turning to the subject of his news conference - his department’s achievements over the past 12 months - Christodoulou went on to say the main objectives of his ministry had been the decentralisation and speeding up of services offered to the public.

He highlighted the upgrading of civil defence achieved over the past three months, saying almost everyone now knew where to go in case of crisis. He added that 800 shelters were now ready and the remaining 3,000 would be online by the end of the year.

The minister also spoke of his plans to reform the battered immigration department, rocked last year by the arrest of its director on suspicion of involvement in a permits scam. He said the ministry would concentrate on overhauling the organisation of the service.

Running down his department’s priorities, Christodoulou also spoke about plans to speed up bureaucratic procedures concerning ownership, town planning and building.

Tuesday, April 4, 2000

[03] Miss Universe chairman sacked

NICOS Mastorakis, the Athens-based chairman of the Miss Universe Host Committee, was sacked yesterday amidst accusations of scandal made by the Social Democratic Party.

The reason for his dismissal was not specified. Nicos Rolandis, Minister for Commerce, Industry and Tourism, said only that given Mastorakis’ election by open tender, "when problems came up, we decided to terminate our co-operation with him."

Mastorakis will receive £500,000 compensation for his dismissal, paid from Pageant funds - despite claims from the Social Democrats that the Miss Universe budget has doubled from the £2.2 million agreed last year.

Rolandis denied the budget claims. In response to the criticism he said, "we like to twist facts in Cyprus."

Speaking to the House Finance Committee, he announced that the Pageant’s budget would rise by no more than 10 to 15 per cent. "The small increase is because it is impossible to cost precisely events such as these a year in advance."

He also underlined that the budget would receive support from the television commercials due to be broadcast during the contest. One minute of airtime will cost £700,000.

Rolandis assured deputies that the state would incur no loss from the termination of Mastorakis’ contract.

Mastorakis’ departure comes less than six weeks before the final is due to take place on May 13.

Last weekend, the 12 candidates to represent the Netherlands at the contest filmed a promotional video about Cyprus at Paphos.

As a result, World Entertainment, the television production company of Miss Universe Netherlands, is due to return to Cyprus in Spring 2001 for an international modelling event. Ironically, Mastorakis’ sacking was the subject of April Fools stories in three local papers on Saturday.

Tuesday, April 4, 2000

[04] Church concern over ‘satanic’ smart cards

THE Church has set up a special committee to look into the possible satanic implications of new ‘smart’ ID cards to be introduced by the government in June.

A Church spokesman said yesterday the Holy Synod had decided to form a committee to look into all aspects of the smart card in terms of its impact on society and the possibility that it might violate human rights. The committee is to be chaired by Bishop Neophytos of Morphou and will report back to the Synod on April 17.

The Synod is understood to be very concerned over the possibility that the number ‘666’, the mark of the Beast in the apocalyptic Book of Revelations, is secretly hidden in a bar code on the new smart cards.

A similar uproar erupted in Europe several years ago when the notion of smart identity cards was mooted.

The Synod recently sent a letter to the Interior Ministry expressing its concern and received a response from the Ministry saying the number 666 was not being used in any form.

Interior Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou said he was in constant contact with the Church on the 666 concern and the issue of any possible violation of human rights by the introduction of the smart cards.

Phileleftheros yesterday quoted the Bishop of Paphos saying he was not worried about the number of the Beast, but did have his own reservations on the smart cards.

The idea that bar codes, which are now found on practically every product, contain a coded form of the numbers 666 is given extensive publicity on various web sites on the Internet.

One such site claims that the extended double line found at the beginning, end and middle of every bar code represents 666, based on the theory that the double line represents a six.

Bar codes checked in the Cyprus Mail, including on newspapers, soft drinks cans, books and audio cassettes, all had such ‘6’ lines at the beginning, middle and end of the code.

However, the Interior Ministry yesterday assured the Mail that the new smart identity cards would not contain bar codes.

George Theodorou said the cards had been fitted a microchip capable of storing four kilobytes of information on each individual.

Theodorou said the electronic cards would be introduced in June for all Cypriot children reaching the age of 12. For the foreseeable future it will only contain the same information as the regular identity card.

This is because government services such as hospitals and police are not yet equipped to deal with the cards.

"This project has nothing to do with violations of civil rights and has nothing to do with Europe," Theodorou said. He the cards would only be only used in Cyprus by government officials and that no one else could access the system.

"The new cards are replacing the old ones, nothing more, nothing less," said another Ministry official. "The other issues are a long way off and some of them require changes to the law".

Tuesday, April 4, 2000

[05] Questions raised over SBA status in EU accession process

A SPECIAL committee has been set at the Foreign Ministry to look into the status of the British bases in Cyprus’ EU accession.

Reports surfaced yesterday that the sovereign status of the bases would be incompatible with EU membership.

According to Phileleftheros, Brussels had raised the issue with Nicosia.

The newspaper said problems would arise, among other issues, over the status of Cypriots living on the bases.

Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou told his daily briefing yesterday that the bases, which cover 99 square miles, had been excluded from Britain's EU accession treaty, even though they remained sovereign British territories.

A written statement issued later by the spokesman's office said the status of the British bases had not been tabled at any meetings with EU officials, but had been brought up in a working context.

"The Foreign Ministry has set up a special team to study the issue and also the rights of citizens of the Cyprus Republic who live in the bases areas," the statement said.

The EU ambassador's office declined to comment on the issue yesterday but EU watchers told the Cyprus Mail they thought it a strange issue for the EU to bring up.

They said Britain's EU membership agreement specifically stated it did not apply to the two military bases in Cyprus.

This was echoed by British High Commission spokesman Peter Boxer, who said there was no question of the bases’ status turning into a political issue, as there was no such thing as an "SBA nationality".

But he did admit that there might be "a handful" of technical problems that might need to be "ironed out" as Cyprus' accession approached.

"We will need to make sure that the existence of the bases will not cause any problems for Cyprus's accession," Boxer said.

He cited the example of farmers cultivating land within the bases and how their activities would conform to the EU’s common agricultural policy.

"These are minor technical issues and nothing that can't be ironed out," Boxer said.

The 1960 Treaty of Establishment provides that the laws of the sovereign territories should mirror those of the Republic of Cyprus.

This would mean that, like Cyprus, the bases would have to harmonise their legislation in line with the acquis communautaire.

"The bases mirrors its laws as closely as possible to those of the Republic for practical reasons," Boxer said.

Tuesday, April 4, 2000

[06] EAC denies link between pylons and leukaemia

THE ELECTRICITY Authority (EAC) yesterday rushed to the defence of its pylons, insisting they had nothing to do with a child-cancer "hot-spot" in the Polemidia suburb of Limassol.

Residents at Pano Polemidia - where seven children have leukaemia - are threatening to bulldoze any new pylons the EAC tries to put up in their area. Prompted by such protests, the Health Ministry has announced an epidemiological study to try and find out why there are so many child cancer patients in the suburb.

Child leukaemia has been grabbing all the headlines recently with the highly publicised effort to find a bone-marrow donor for a six-year-old sufferer from Nicosia. Some 70,000 people have donated blood in the search for a compatible donor for the boy.

EAC chairman George Georgiades was yesterday keen not to see the authority branded a cancer agent.

He said scientific studies proved there was absolutely no link between the high intensity electro-magnetic fields created by pylon cables and child leukaemia. "The EAC has a whole series of studies and has undertaken systematic measurements of force fields and has found no evidence of any relation between residents' health and any accumulation of air-borne transfer of electricity," Georgiades said.

A recently completed eight-year study of 4,000 children with cancer in Britain found no link with pylons. The scientists, led by eminent epidemiologist Sir Richard Doll, said their study "closed the case" on magnetic fields as a cause of leukaemia.

Despite his insistence that pylons were "innocent," Georgiades said the EAC was fully in favour of the Ministry epidemiological study, saying it would help "dispel all doubts" about pylons.

"We have to question the whole network in Cyprus," the EAC chief said.

Health Minister Frixos Savvides yesterday confirmed the government was launching an "immediate" epidemiological study for the Polemidia area. He admitted that Pano Polemidia had a worrying incidence of child leukaemia. He also made it clear the study would not start with the assumption that pylons were the only possible culprits.

"We will start an intensive epidemiological study in the area to establish if there is any link between this increased incidence and anything concerning electricity pylons or anything else in the area," Savvides said.

The Health Ministry study is to be carried out in conjunction with the Karaiskakion Foundation. The Foundation has spearheaded the effort to find a bone-marrow donor for six-year-old leukaemia patient Andreas Vassiliou.

Savvides echoed Georgiades' estimation that pylons were risk-free. Emissions from pylon cables, the Minister said, were no more powerful than those from an ordinary household dryer. But not everyone is as confident of the safety of pylons. Epidemiologist Michalis Voniatis yesterday said the issue was still "debatable."

"There are strong indications that the presence of pylons with high- intensity cables has serious consequences for the health of those living under such pylons, and for the health of children specifically," Voniatis said.

He admitted there was no concrete proof of a pylons-leukaemia link, but recommended no new pylons be put up in built-up areas.

The epidemiologist gained prominence last year when he released a study linking emissions from a foundry outside Ergates, in the Nicosia district, to high cancer incidence in the village. The government is now carrying out an independent study of the possible effects foundry emissions have on local health.

Tuesday, April 4, 2000

[07] Glitch again blights new listing

CONTROVERSY surrounding the trading system at the Cyprus Stock Exchange and its impact on new issues broke out yesterday after newcomer Kyknos opened below its one pound nominal price, the victim ofthe same technical hiccup that affected Aiantas on its debut last week.

Yesterday afternoon, the CSE announced it had cancelled all dealings in Kyknos after a glitch was traced leaving brokers who had posted low buy orders saddled with higher prices than they had angled for, and vice versa.

The mix-up led to frayed tempers on the trading floor and an urgent meeting with bourse director Nondas Metaxas, who ordered that all trades in Kyknos be cancelled, dealers said.

"It was a technical problem in the system. There was nothing deliberate about it. It was clearly a mistake in the computers," a trader present at yesterday's session said.

The CSE had announced last week that a mix-up at Aiantas' debut last Tuesday had resulted in offers for the share being posted as low as one, three and seven cents in pre-trading.

Under data supplied by the CSE during yesterday's session, Kyknos opened at 93 cents, reached a high of 95 before falling back down to close at88 cents. It registered a turnover of 1.15 million shares, the second highest on the market.

Elsewhere, the bourse ended broadly stable at 475.68 points, 0.01 points lower.

The CSE all-share index spiked at its opening and was up by some 1.5 per cent in the early minutes before succumbing to profit-taking pressures.

But traders said the market was looking stable and appeared, for the moment, to be beyond the wild oscillations seen last month.

"I think investors have realised that the market is not going to fall even further and this is encouraging them," said one stockbroker.

Banking shares were up strongly in the opening minutes, led by Bank of Cyprus, which was some 31 cents higherbefore scaling back to £7.75, two cents higher than Friday and on a volume of 374,278 shares.

Laiki was also up seven cents at the outset, but by its close it was two cents higher than Friday at £12.20 on a volume of 91,206 shares.

Traded value was some six million pounds higher than Friday at £20.2 million and on 5,498 deals.

Small-cap Dodoni Investment drew attention yesterday as it dominated trading with 2.33 million shares changing hands. It rose 2.9 cents to close at 22.8. There was no apparent reason for so much turnover in the stock, but traders said that smaller companies were coming into focus as possible vehicles for companies to get into the market through the back door by buying them up. In other sectors, Cyprus Tourism Development Company climbed 65 cents, or 11.8 per cent to £6.15, bolstered by renewed hopes that the government would reduce its stake in the firm to below 70 per cent.

Tuesday, April 4, 2000

[08]

[09] Fanieros released for lack of evidence

But the fraud squad insist 55-year-old Fanieros - set free on Sunday - could still be charged once their investigations into a swindle to steal £143,000 from a Dherynia investor are completed.

Two other men, suspected accomplices in the scam, are still being held in police custody.

Police are keen to freeze the bank accounts of all three suspects in an effort to track down the stolen £143,000.

Fanieros insists on his complete innocence. In statements to journalists after his release, he said the £30,000 found in his car at the time of his arrest last month was his own money, which he had withdrawn from his bank account the day before.

Police believe one of the other suspects impersonated Dherynia businessman Georgios Alexandrou in order to sell over 30,000 of his Bank of Cyprus and Louis Cruise Lines shares. The man allegedly got a Nicosia brokerage to sell Alexandrou's shares for £143,000.

Tuesday, April 4, 2000

[10] Police seek hooligan after flare injury

The incident happened as the teams took to the field before the Apollonas- Anorthosis game in Limassol.

As the teams entered the pitch, fans launched dozens of flares. One of the flares, apparently launched by a flare-gun, hit Apollonas physiotherapist George Asprogenous on the leg, fracturing his shin.

Asprogenous was rushed to the Hygeia clinic, where he underwent emergency surgery.

Doctors said they would operate again on the wound in 10 days, which would take six months to heal completely.

Police immediately began searching for the man who fired the flare. They believe he is an Apollonas fan, since the flare came from their side of the stand.

Police have examined footage from closed circuit cameras, but it has failed to provide them with any clues.

Health Minister Frixos Savvides, a former Apollonas chairman, who was at Saturday’s match, called for the "murderer" to be arrested and punished. He urged spectators who know anything about the incident to step forward and help the police.

He was echoed by current club chairman George Papas who said he wanted the "murderer" found and punished accordingly.

"This action is a stab in the back for the game and I urge the police to find and arrest the guilty person," Papas added.

[11] Biker races to his death

The number of deaths is up almost 35 per cent from 23 during the same period last year.

The grim toll was disclosed in the wake of yet another road accident in Limassol on Sunday, which left a 19-year-old man dead and another in serious condition in hospital.

Police said Savvas Savva was killed at around 6pm during a motorcycle race with 18-year-old Demetris Skeparnides on the Limassol to Yermasoyia road.

Eyewitnesses said the accident happened when the youths overtook a smaller motorcycle ahead of them in a pincer movement, one from the left and the other from the right, colliding into each other once they had passed the bike.

Savva was hurled off the bike and killed instantly while his motorcycle crashed into a car.

Skeparnides was dragged along the tarmac by his motorcycle, sustaining serious injury.

Neither was wearing a helmet.

Both were rushed to hospital. Savva was pronounced dead, while Skeparnides was sent to the intensive care unit in serious but not life-threatening condition.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 2000

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