Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 00-11-07

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

Tuesday, November 7, 2000

CONTENTS

[01] Man accused of stealing goats for cabaret nights

[02] Anthem comment hits a sore note

[03] Bourse in waiting

[04] IMC decision expected today

[05] Murder suspect says he stabbed compatriot in self-defence

[06] Laiki guaranteed charity's Louis share investment

[07] Did Saudi millionaire run off with a Russian girlfriend?

[08] Scam probe moves overseas

[09] Annan set to join Geneva talks tomorrow

[10] Hunters urge EU to act on bird slaughter

[01] Man accused of stealing goats for cabaret nights

A MAN accused of stealing £8,000 worth of goats to pay for nights out with his cabaret artiste girlfriend has been remanded in custody for six days.

Nicos Aperkiou Kyriacou, 31, from Dassoupolis in Nicosia appeared in court on Sunday. The court heard he had admitted to police that he had spent the money he made from selling the goats drinking and clubbing with his foreign girlfriend, who is a cabaret artiste.

But Kyriacou denied having stolen the animals, saying he had bought them at a very good price. Antonis Kyriacos, 30, from Geri, and Kypros Psyllos, 50 from Anayia were also remanded in custody in connection with the case yesterday. They are accused of acting as Kyriacou's accomplices.

Police are after three more people, thought to have helped the suspects steal 107 goats worth £8,000. The suspects allegedly stole animals from three farms, one in Ayios Ioannis in Malounda, one in Tseri and one in Kokkinotrimithia.

THE government is considering a branding programme to stamp out animal smuggling from the occupied areas. The scheme will see all goats branded to tell them apart from animals smuggled across the Green Line. If approved by the Finance Ministry, it will cost £400,000 and will be implemented in about a year's time.

[02] Anthem comment hits a sore note

The Green Party even called on the government to replace him, while other circles spoke of his betrayal of Hellenism and his ‘dangerous’ positions.

Phone lines at local radio station Proto, which devoted two hours of air time to the issue yesterday morning, were jammed with callers blasting Vassiliou, while other stations and some newspapers tracked down deputies for their opinions.

Cypriots have been using the Greek national anthem since the 1960s because no one ever got around to composing one for the fledgling Republic. The Greek anthem Imnos eis tin Eleftheria (Hymn to Liberty), which has over 158 verses, talks about rising from the sacred ashes of the Hellenes and heroic deeds in Greek history.

Vassiliou made the comment about a Cypriot national anthem in response to a question from a Turkish-Cypriot journalist at a news conference on Wednesday. He said there would be a need to compose a state national anthem in the event of a federal solution to the Cyprus problem, one which would be acceptable to all citizens of the Republic.

The first attack came from the Association of EOKA fighters, which expressed its outrage by saying such talk was a “defeatist approach”, and called on Vassiliou to retract his statement. “It is incomprehensible for us to bring up such issues. If our enemies dared to table it we would react very strongly.”

Newspaper reports yesterday quoted ruling DISY party spokesman Tassos Mitsopoulos as saying the party would be against replacing the existing national anthem. He said the national anthem was in no way about nationalism or fanaticism but rather about self-knowledge and respecting national identity.

DIKO deputy Marios Matsakis was quoted as saying: “God save us.” Yesterday others jumped on the bandwagon. The Green Party called on the government to replace Vassiliou, saying his comments were dangerous to the Cyprus cause.

Right wing party New Horizons said Vassiliou had a dangerous and extreme position on the issue, which it said had been orchestrated by foreign powers as part of an effort to divide Cypriot Hellenism. In a statement, socialist party KISOS also said the comment was bad timing by Vassiliou and that instead of apologising he continued his “provocation” against the Greek Cypriot people.

“Why didn’t Vassiliou change the national anthem when he was President?” the statement demanded. But DISY deputy Kate Clerides jumped to Vassiliou’s defence. “If we have a federal solution of course we will need a state anthem and I don’t think we should view it with such antipathy,” she said.

Vassiliou, who left for a conference abroad yesterday, said the reaction to what he said was out of place and time. “It was aimed at creating an impression and is taking advantage of public feeling because everyone knows all Greek Cypriots are proud of it (the Greek anthem),” he said. “The fact we felt proud did not stop us having the Cyprus flag and did not diminish our Hellenism in any way.”

The Cyprus flag flies alongside the Greek flag on public buildings, but is usually drowned in a sea of blue and white Greek flags at demonstrations. During last week’s Ochi day parade, Vassiliou said: “I had to become President for the Cyprus flag to be shown at national day parades.”

[03] Bourse in waiting

Volume and investor action has been negligible for the last few days. The policy has been to sit tight and see whether the Bank of Cyprus (BoC) takes off or flops on the Athens floor. The bank's Wednesday debut on the Greek exchange hasn't had the magical effect brokers promised.

Some fear that its opening price of 3,100 drachmas, (£5.22) will not only deter Greek investors from buying, but also force other CSE share prices down. According to brokers, Cyprus Popular Bank (CPB) and Cisco will be the main indicators to watch, to see which way the rest of market swings.

BoC yesterday traded well above its Athens' price, at £5.36 closing up at £5.39. Its warrantee however, yesterday lost 19 cents, dipping to £3.71. Low volume, according to stockbroker Demos Stavrides, reflects that frustration and disappointment, as the index looks set to stay depressed this month. "It was very silent, very quiet today. But I don't think we've seen the worst yet. It is my belief that it'll go to a minimum of 275 in the next ten days," he told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.

And this week, another three companies are due to list on the exchange. Critics have blamed the deluge of new arrivals for saturating the bourse of capital, and the recent crash. Rolandos Enterprises made an unremarkable debut yesterday, opening at 59, reaching an intra-day high of 64, before closing at 55. The company issued 50.6 million shares at 55 cents.

Aristo Developers are to launch today, whilst the car rental firm Petsas, joins up tomorrow. Investors actually dabbling with their stocks are centering their attentions on the banks and technology companies.

The four banks yesterday collected a volume of £2.23 million, just falling short of the £3.23 million clocked up by the technology companies. But share prices stayed pretty much on the even keel yesterday. CPB opened the session at £6.99 to finish at £6.98. Logicom notched up a five-cent gain to close at £4.40, as GlobalSoft shed 12 cents to settle up at £5.92.

But despite the bleak days, upward pressure, as the brokers keep reminding us, is just around the corner. Those who support the government's decision that investor companies sink 80 per cent of their capital into the market, bit by bit before June, think it will push the index up.

Otherwise, the common-sense advice to buy up decent stocks now at bargain basement prices, should eventually shore up the dwindling index. Stavrides also attributed part of the slump to the cramped conditions at the Grivas Digenis site, adding that a move to the IMC building by the end of the year, would accompany the exchange on a smoother journey.

[04] IMC decision expected today

The move has been dogged by controversy since January, when it emerged that the CSE authorities had opened negotiations with the £30 million International Merchandising Centre.

Stockbrokers have branded current working conditions, with inadequate technological infrastructure and cramped space, as "the worst in Europe".

Over 30 brokerage firms, staff and media are squeezed into facilities on Grivas Dhigenis Avenue designed at a time when the stock market only listed a handful of companies.

But Nicosia mayor Lellos Demetriades in October lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court against the move to Latsia, claiming it would be ridiculous to have a national financial institution outside the city boundaries, and alleging the move was in breach of planning regulations defining the IMC site as an industrial area.

The mayor told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that the hearing was to be heard in December. The planning board approved the move in September, passing it on to the Cabinet for ratification.

The Cabinet is expected to approve the move, which the stock exchange authorities argue is a matter of urgency. A government announcement is due today. "It's vital for the market that we move, because now the CSE has space problems, computers are congested and people can't do their work properly.

The premises are the worst conditions in Europe for a stock market. The move will help brokers, as well as create a better impression for foreign investors," broker Demos Stavrides told the Cyprus Mail yesterday. Nonetheless, he doesn't expect to move until Christmas, despite past claims from CSE chairman Paris Lenas that a move could go ahead within days of Cabinet approval.

The owner of the IMC, Andreas Kaisis, spent £700,000 on renovating the building for the CSE after reaching a deal with the exchange last winter. But Demetriades and the Technical Chamber ETEK claim the private agreement was unlawful and a blatant disregard of town planning law, according to which the IMC is not zoned for financial operations.

[05] Murder suspect says he stabbed compatriot in self-defence

Bratseanu and the victim, both farm workers in Athienou, had been out on a drinking spree on Saturday night. At 1am on Sunday, the two men returned to the suspect's room at the farm and continued drinking. Bratseanu told the court that he and Isaac had quarrelled over what to watch on television, and that Isaac had grabbed a large kitchen knife and threatened him.

In the struggle, Bratseanu managed to wrest the knife from Isaac then stabbed him six times in the throat and chest, the court heard. He then locked the room and fled on his motorcycle, heading for Larnaca. But he ran out of petrol and had to spend the night in the fields, the court heard.

On Sunday at noon, Bratseanou surrendered to police, and allegedly admitted to stabbing Isaac. Police said they found bloodstains on the suspect's clothes and shoes. The owner of the farm, Michalis Karakitis, had found the victim's body earlier that day.

Karakitis said he found the body on the bed, adding the room was a mess and stank of alcohol. The case investigator told Judge Nicos Sandis that police were treating the murder as premeditated and requested that the suspect be remanded for eight days. The judge agreed to the request. The suspect arrived on the island on June 15 and has since then worked at Karakitis' cow farm. Isaac arrived on October 10 and worked at a neighbouring poultry farm.

[06] Laiki guaranteed charity's Louis share investment

And Andreas Gregoriou, chairman of the Radiomarathon Assets Management Committee, further said it was only the £500,000 in Louis share profits that had bailed the charity out of its debts this year in helping children with physical or mental handicaps.

Gregoriou last month acknowledged stock market profits and bank interest had saved Radiomarathon from debt this year. But the fact that the key investment was in Louis Lines shares only surfaced yesterday in Alithia.

Gregoriou said Laiki Bank, and not Louis Lines, originally suggested that Radiomarathon purchase the Louis shares with the bank's guarantee against any losses if the stock lost value.

"Laiki Bank was the underwriter… As the underwriters of the shares, they have to ensure somebody buys them. So they have a say where to allot them. And definitely they did this in co-operation with the (Louis) company" in the share offer to Radiomarathon, he said. Laiki Bank's Press Office Manager, Andreas Stylianou, recalled things differently and disagreed with Gregoriou's version of events: "I think the proposal (to purchase the Louis shares) came from Louis Cruise Lines… to the then-chairman of Radiomarathon, Mr. Cleanthis Avakis."

"I don't see any conflict of interest in this," Stylianou said, when asked if market sentiment might have been influenced - while Louis share prices soared eight-fold -- by the knowledge that a respected charity that Laiki bank helped found and still supports was buying shares underwritten by that same bank. Stylianou noted - and Gregoriou confirmed - that Radiomarathon's own bylaws "allow the foundation to invest in the Cyprus Stock Exchange."

"But even if it was done in this way and the Bank (and not Louis) had recommended the share purchase, where is the conflict of interest," Stylianou asked? Gregoriou said Radiomarathon had made money from the share transaction and "it was secured by the Laiki Bank… I was not committee chairman then… but I understand that at the time, it was offered specifically to benefit Radiomarathon."

"They could sell it the next day and make… more than 100 per cent profit. These people would have been mad to reject the offer," as Radiomarathon depends on public donations, and this was effectively "a major donation," he added. Stylianou insisted Laiki's guarantee was above suspicion. "We didn't guarantee the performance of the stock. We guaranteed the £100,000 that was pledged for the shares that were bought," he said. "We said that if these shares sell at a loss, then we guarantee the whole sum of money - the £100,000 plus the interest the money would have earned in the bank.

But fortunately, things went well and they had a profit of half a million pounds," he said. Total Radiomarathon income from last November's nationwide, two-day drive was £1,090,608, Gregoriou said, while "total expenditure for the year is £1,294,938."

That left a £204,330 deficit, he noted. "But this deficit has already been covered with the profits we made (on the Louis shares) and the interest we get from Laiki," which is where Radio Marathon deposits all its money because "they give us the best treatment." This year's fundraising campaign opened on Sunday.

[07] Did Saudi millionaire run off with a Russian girlfriend?

A SAUDI millionaire who went missing from Cyprus in February may have left the country with a secret girlfriend, according to Justice Minister Nicos Koshis.

The comments came after Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Greece met Koshis last week to be briefed on the progress of investigations into the disappearance of Rakan Khalied Hathleen, who is 52 and married.

Koshis is understood to have passed on the shock findings to the ambassador at last week's meeting. A spokesman for police headquarters in Nicosia yesterday told the Cyprus Mail: "We do have information that he may have left with another girlfriend. We can't say this for sure yet, but the Minister doesn't just pull comments out of his hat."

The Saudi millionaire arrived on the island in early January and was reported missing on February 18. Police initially said they had reason to believe he had been the victim of foul play.

The man is reported to be married to a member of the Saudi royal family, but had been living with a 42-year-old Russian woman in Limassol when he disappeared. Now, Koshis has revealed there were indications Hathleen left Cyprus for Uzbekistan with a second Russian mistress.

The woman with whom Hathleen had been living in Limassol and her 18-year- old son were initially taken in for questioning following his disappearance. The youth and a Russian Pontian man were also questioned over money drawn from Hathleen's credit cards after he had gone missing, but no arrests were made.

[08] Scam probe moves overseas

Police last week began overseas investigations into the case after back accounts in their names were uncovered in the United States and Greece. Yesterday was the seventh time Symeou's remand had been renewed.

The court yesterday heard that Symeou was suspected of fiddling official papers to take possession of property belonging to pensioner Ismini Karageorgis. The investigating officer told the court that fingerprints belonging to Symeou and his sister Andri Irakelous had been found on the document. Irakleous, a lawyer aged 47, and her sister, 42-year-old chemist Maria Ioannou, have also been remanded in custody in connection with the case.

The case came to light when 80-year-old widower Antonis Kei, one of the alleged victims, told police that Symeou had swindled him into signing a power of attorney, which gave him full control of his property.

Police said the teacher and his sisters were believed to have conspired between 1996 and 1999 with several other people, managing under false pretences to take over control over the property of an unknown number of elderly people.

The list of suspects in the hands of police also includes a certifying officer and another person currently on trial on suspicion of being involved in a similar case. Police said Symeou had visited elderly people at their retirement homes, posing as a representative form a charity helping the aged and, after gaining their trust, got them to sign papers handing their property over to him.

Antonis Kei, a Morphou refugee, moved to Australia with his now deceased wife Angeliki in 1975 to work as a labourer. The couple moved back to Cyprus in 1993 and bought a £56,000 home from Irakleous three years later. Angeliki died last January.

During a recent court appearance, Kei said that Irakleous had got him to sign blank documents and that he did not know what he had been doing. His daughter Niki said that her father had never signed papers granting power of attorney to Irakleous and Ioannou, but the sisters say he willingly signed the house over to them.

[09] Annan set to join Geneva talks tomorrow

Speaking after a one-hour meeting with UN Special Adviser Alvaro de Soto, Denktash said the meeting had been short but good, and that he would meet De Soto again today.

Responding to questions, the Turkish Cypriot leader said Annan's presence at the talks would not make any difference. He added: "I don't think he is the authority under which we are working, so he naturally will come and have a look."

Denktash said the two sides were responding to the process, but only the UN could decide whether the response was positive or negative. Yesterday De Soto had a working breakfast with President Glafcos Clerides. After the two- hour meeting, De Soto said he did not know whether Annan intended to put forward any general principles tomorrow.

During the meeting, the two men discussed a "number of issues", but De Soto declined to disclose what had been addressed. He said no times had been set for tomorrow's meetings between Annan and the two leaders.

De Soto said he was constantly revising the non-papers he gave to the two sides and described this task as his "daily bread", which he would continued to do. The UN envoy said he did not know whether Annan's presence would change the situation, asserting it was a matter of speculation that he would rather leave to the media, since they were "very good at it".

The two sides have been engaged in proximity talks since December 1999. The talks aim at preparing the ground for substantive negotiations leading to a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus issue.

[10] Hunters urge EU to act on bird slaughter

The association's bold call for EU action came hot on the heels of a similar plea from Britain's powerful Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). The RSPB called on Brussels to block Cyprus' entry after its undercover officers visited the island last week to probe the extent of the illegal cull.

The RSPB team estimated that some 20 million songbirds fall victim to lime sticks and mist nets every year in Cyprus. Hunting Association chairman Tassos Lordos echoed the RSPB's plea yesterday, saying he "hoped" the EU would make a clampdown on the lime sticking and mist netting a precondition for Cyprus' accession to the bloc.

The Association is keen to improve the "trigger-happy" image of the local hunting fraternity by cultivating a more conservation-friendly approach. Lordos was obviously pricked by recent damning reports on the bird killing in the British press.

The Times, the Daily Express and the Daily Mail have all reported on the widespread and blatant bird killing. The Daily Mail described Cypriots as "the most merciless bird killers in the Mediterranean". As the Sunday Mail reported last month, millions of songbirds are still trapped each autumn and spring, despite a ban on mist netting and lime sticking imposed in 1984.

With the authorities apparently unable or unwilling to intervene, the caught birds fuel a multi-million pound industry, finding their way to local tavernas to be served up as expensive ambellopoulia delicacies.

Lordos yesterday said his association was working hard to rid Cypriots of the bird trapping "habit". "It is a matter of attitude, a bird is today seen as a buck, the Cypriot sees it as a pound, a large proportion of the population see it this way. "We try not just to hit the illegality but also to change attitudes through education… and I believe in the long-term we can limit the problem, though I doubt we will get rid of it all together," Lordos said.

Once a traditional, small-scale activity, the bird trapping has been turned into a high-tech industry, with tape lures often being used to attract migrants to their doom. Local conservationists accuse police of turning a blind eye to the slaughter. Police deny this.

According to police, three trappers were last week charged with poaching after being caught red-handed trapping birds with mist nets in the Paralimni area. But local and foreign conservationists insist not enough is being done to stamp out the illegal practice.

"The scale of the slaughter is sickening," the RSPB reports. "Cyprus is on a major migration route with millions of birds pouring through the island in spring and autumn. Seeing the extent of trapping it is amazing that any birds manage to get through at all," the organisation adds Both the RSPB and the Daily Mail are urging people in Britain to write to President Clerides to complain about the bird killing.

Cyprus Mail 2000

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