Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 01-04-07

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

Saturday, April 7, 2001

CONTENTS

[01] 'Bin Laden organisation kept bank accounts in Cyprus'

[02] Klerides under fire for market fund plan

[03] 'Duty free shops must go to tender'

[04] British arrest new batch of illegal immigrants

[05] Masked gunman raids Limassol bank

[06] £60 a cow for new BSE test

[07] Mental health: a problem we all might have to face

[08] Welcome for Euro parliament Tsiakourmas plea

[01] 'Bin Laden organisation kept bank accounts in Cyprus'

The organisation, Arketa, also used the island as a link to export Sudanese goods to Europe, said the TV report.

The national channel said the allegations were made in testimony by Sudanese Jamat Ahmet Alfato before a court in New York which is trying Bin Laden in absentia along with some of his associates who are accused of murdering American citizens and planting two bombs in American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The terrorist attacks killed 224 and wounded 5,000 in August 1998.

Alfato, who said he had worked for years close to Bin Laden, is said to have told the court that Arketa, which was founded in 1989, used to deposit its incomes from operations in Sudan in Cyprus accounts. He also alleged that

the organisation exported peanuts and other goods from Sudan to Europe through Cyprus, according to CyBC.

Alfato said that Cyprus was the ideal place for such an operation since the international community had imposed sanctions on Sudan. CyBC said that according to Alfato's testimony, Arketa had companies in many countries in order to maintain an international terrorist network.

Arketa used its companies' funds to buy weapons which it later transferred to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, America and possibly Cyprus, said Alfato.

Bin Laden's associate is said to have named four members of the terrorist organisation who had visited Cyprus to carry out dealings -- Abu Abdullah Lubnani, Abu Rida al Suri, Abu Isra al Iraqi and Wadih el Hage.

According to CyBC, the Cyprus government had been informed about the content of Alfato's testimony and had contacted American authorities to dismiss the allegations. Official US documents have branded Cyprus as a hotspot for money laundering, gun trafficking and other criminal activities more than twice in the past few months.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[02] Klerides under fire for market fund plan

On Thursday, the government tabled a bill for the £100 million fund to parliament, although most of the political parties have already rejected the idea.

An amendment to the original bill proposes that it be paid for through the levies charged on stock market transactions as opposed to an outright loan.

However, the House did approve legislation for the creation of mutual funds and for the upgrading of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

KISOS leader Vassos Lyssarides said yesterday the stabilisation fund was clearly a pre-election ploy and called on Klerides to resign, saying he was the one responsible for the whole mess.

"A new error cannot correct a previous criminal error," Lyssarides said.

"I'm not saying that if the minister resigns things will automatically be put right but at least the person who is ultimately responsible will be paying for it."

Communist AKEL deputy Kikis Kazamias said it was not only the opposition parties which were opposed to the plan. "This is a political decision which has come after pressure from DISY on the government," he said.

"I want to point out, and even the minister himself points out and acknowledges, that this is nothing but an intervention."

Kazamias said the move by the government was nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction. He added that the United Democrats did not approve "and they are allies of the government."

"I'm sorry to say that this has all the hallmarks of something that is done to impress."

But Finance Minster Takis Klerides yesterday defended the move and said it would help restore confidence in the market.

"I believe the establishment of a stabilisation fund will also have a preventative function, which is that the big players or speculators, when they know that there is another big player which will be independent and will be handled by a foreign company will act in the opposite way to the way the detractors say it will," he said.

"When I presented the matter to the House in early December I said 'yes' it was state intervention in the market and 'yes' it was meddling, but let us not forget that what we have is an infant stock market and I ask if what happened in 1999 and 2000 was not meddling in the market then what is?"

Klerides said the fund was the only positive move for the market. "We didn't take the decision easily because we don't want to intervene in a free market," he said.

According to Greek expert Demetris Tsimbanoulis, who is compiling a report on the Cyprus Stock Exchange, it will take three years before the institution becomes a fully-fledged market based on a solid legal and institutional framework.

Tsimbanoulis welcomed legislation passed on Thursday allowing the creation of mutual funds, but said the moves were not enough. "Mutual funds on their own were just a small pebble in the effort. We need a package of measures," he said. "Upgrading the SEC and the introduction of the mutual funds are a step on the way, but they must be seen as just pebbles within the structure."

The establishment of mutual funds means that groups of investors can club together to set up joint funds for investing in one or more companies. They are generally viewed as a 'safer' form of investment.

Nicosia investment consultant Demos Stavrides told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that funds should be up and running within six months. He said this would result in a re-allocation of shares with a move towards selective stocks. "Some companies will probably lose out," he said. "This will be a new phase for the market and new for the investors."

He said that initially, investors were likely to be cautious and it would take some time for them to understand the system and for the idea to be accepted.

"They will probably confuse it with insurance schemes and we will have to inform them as to the concept," he said. "But generally speaking it should help the market to stabilise," he said.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[03] 'Duty free shops must go to tender'

According to the reports, a meeting was held at the Attorney-general office on Thursday to discuss the issue. It was agreed that no loophole existed within the law, which would allow the government to hand back the contract to Cyprus Airways (CY), which has been running the shops for the past five years, the reports said.

CY's contract runs out in at the end of this month, but the government was hoping some gap in the law would allow the national carrier to be given back the contract without tender.

Last October, the Supreme Court ruled that the contract should be put out to tender after a long legal battle was fought by a number of other contenders, including the Louis group.

Following the court decision, Finance Minister Takis Klerides said the Council of Ministers would find a way around the court decision by passing legislation, which would allow the government to give the contract back to CY.

CY was on the brink of renewing he contract with the government when the other companies challenged the procedure.

They said the action was not directed against Cyprus Airways but against the government for handing out contracts with public interest without following the proper tenders procedures. It will be open to CY to tender for the contract when it goes to bidding.

The airline says it has not been informed of Thursday's reported decision, while neither the Finance Ministry nor the Attorney-general could be reached to confirm the decision.

The loss of the duty free shops would be a major blow to the airline, which has seen its profits shoot up dramatically since it took over the contract.

In the first eight months of 1996, the duty free shops yielded £500,000 in revenue. In 1997, the shops made a profit of £800,000, in 1998 it shot up to £2.5 million and in 1999 to £3.9 million.

CY estimates it has doubled the profit from the duty free shops in the past five years.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[04] British arrest new batch of illegal immigrants

Dhekelia police are questioning the 12 men, aged between 25 and 35, who allegedly paid $2,000 dollars for a fishing boat passage to Europe.

Their fishing boat landed near Ormidhia, inside the Dhekelia Sovereign British Base at 6pm on Thursday and the boatman allegedly demanded another $2,000 from each of them before allowing them to disembark after 24 hours at sea.

The men wandered around for four or five hours before being apprehended along the Dhekelia - Larnaca road.

They are thought to have left Baghdad on March 28, from where they were driven to an unspecified port -thought to be in Syria - in a trailer.

The latest arrivals have intensified pressure on the British Bases, coping with a swelling number of refugees in the last two years.

The British currently have 112 immigrants on the SBA. Twenty-two have been granted refugee status, 32 are subject to deportation after their refugee applications were turned down, 41 are convicted illegal immigrants, four cases are still pending and police are still interviewing 13.

"Yes, it is a burden, because we don't have the infrastructure to deal with them, given that we are a military base and not a country," said Bases spokesman Rupert Greenwood.

The SBAs adhere to the 1951 Refugee Convention subject to the constraints of the Treaty of Establishment.

Normal police duties are taken up with guarding the immigrants. Accommodation has to be found, upkeep paid for, and the Ministry of Defence also has to fund a small welfare payment.

A request for the detention of the 12 Iraqis, in order to proceed with a full-scale police investigation, will be heard at the district court on Tuesday.

Until then they are being housed in Bases accommodation.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[05] Masked gunman raids Limassol bank

The armed robber walked into the bank behind Orphanides at 9.29am.

Believed to be holding a sawn off shotgun, he shouted at bank staff and the eight to ten customers in the branch to hit the floor.

Witnesses saw him stash cash from three tills in plastic bags, before he sped off from the crime scene in an orange car.

Reports say he escaped with £22,000 worth of bank notes in local and foreign currency.

"I saw this guy holding this bag, getting ready to go. His car was there, he got in and he went. He was carrying a gun but I didn't see kind it was. We saw everyone on the floor, but what can you do? I shouted out at people to get the number of his car, but the numbers were covered up," said one elderly female bystander.

The suspect drove the getaway car himself, with the registration number masked to foil attempts to identify him.

A nearby shopkeeper jumped into his own vehicle to pursue the suspect, but lost him at a set of traffic lights on Macedonia Avenue.

Police started a manhunt and arrested a 27-year-old unemployed man at a kiosk in Kandou, as he sat sipping coffee.

An orange car was found parked outside the kiosk. A police search uncovered coins and bank deposit receipts.

The gun is still at large and the scene of crime has been cordoned off.

The suspect has said nothing to police except to swear his innocence.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[06] £60 a cow for new BSE test

Senior veterinary officer Andreas Orphanides yesterday told the Cyprus Mail that Cyprus had started tests in January, ahead of the European Union schedule that makes testing compulsory from July 1, 2001.

The four-hour 'Elisa' test costs £60 an animal. Between 8,000 and 9,000 30- month old cattle are slaughtered in Cyprus every year.

A tissue sample is removed from the brain of the slaughtered animal in order to conduct a BSE-scan in a test that Orphanides said was 99 per cent accurate.

"None of the tests carried out until now have shown a positive result. That is the absolute truth," he said.

A laboratory technician was sent over to Ireland to be trained specifically to carry out the tests.

Orphanides said it was a significant but necessary cost to meet. "Of course it's a significant expense. £1.5 million is a lot of money. It would be significant it was half the amount."

Cattle intended for the human food chain are slaughtered at 12 months. Subsidies encourage farmers to kill their animals at a young age.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[07] Mental health: a problem we all might have to face

Speaking at the same venue, Dr. Andreas Demetriou, director of Mental Health Services, said that one per cent of Cypriots suffered from schizophrenia.

This year's Health Day is dedicated to mental health.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that nearly one in twelve people (400 million) suffer from some kind of mental or neurological problem, including drug and alcohol addiction.

Demetriou said people often looked at patients with fear, branding them as dangerous, and added that the Services had started a campaign, including seminars and other activities, to banish social prejudice.

Human rights violations in mental health clinics and social discrimination are only some of the problems faced by mental health patients, says a WHO declaration issued yesterday.

"Social discrimination along with the fact that these people are being stigmatised are the biggest problems mental patients face. It is the state's obligation to make sure they receive proper care and treatment," the minister said

This year's International Health Day's slogan is: "No to seclusion. Yes to care".

"Communal and day mental health centres have already been set up in Cyprus so that patients don't have to be institutionalised," said Savvides.

He added that his ministry planned to upgrade mental health services by increasing the number of child psychiatrists, clinical psychiatrists and work therapists as well as modernising Athalassa Mental Health Hospital.

Yesterday's comments echoed the findings of an investigation carried out by Intercollege's Psychology Department on the problems faced by mental health patients and their families in Cyprus. The report, funded by UNOPS and released earlier this week, suggested that Cypriot society's attitude towards mental health was negative and often affected suffers permanently, making their problem worse.

The study revealed that patients' main problem of seclusion from society was often accompanied by by stigma, unfair treatment, inadequate support, and lack of opportunity for expression and independence.

These problems often lead to depression, insecurity, fear, sadness, mental exhaustion and disappointment, causing severe strain on family relations.

The study showed that young people, and children in particular, were most susceptible to mental illness, followed by members of troubled families, people with financial problems, the oppressed, including victims of violence, those who were socially isolated, people with chronic health problems, women and people who differ in any way from the general population.

The majority of those questioned held family circumstances and the pressures of daily life to blame for mental illness, along with individual character traits, while most, with the notable exclusion of government mental health workers, said that a lack of adequate government support was also to blame.

The general consensus was for a change on the public's attitude on mental illness through campaigns and a general reorganisation of mental health services.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[08] Welcome for Euro parliament Tsiakourmas plea

But party leader Vassos Lyssarides insisted the resolution should be acted upon, not shelved like so many others on Cyprus.

"This resolution must not remain an orphan because the history of the Cyprus problem is a history of orphaned resolutions," he said.

The resolution passed on Thursday calls for the immediate release of Tsiakourmas, 39, who was abducted on December 13 last year on the Pyla- Pergamos road, taken to the north and accused of possessing two kilos of cannabis.

The EU resolution "condemns the abduction and subsequent arrest" of Tsiakourmas, which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law", holding Turkey responsible for the detention of the Greek Cypriot.

The resolution said Tsiakourmas had been abducted by Turkish Cypriots with the apparent support of the Turkish occupation forces and was being detained in the area occupied by the Turkish army.

"The European Parliament demands that the local administration in the occupied area of Cyprus releases Tsiakourmas immediately and without precondition" and urges the government of Turkey to make all efforts to ensure that the case comes to a positive conclusion.

It also said proceedings had commenced in the "illegal courts" in the north on "trumped up charges" and that the authorities of the British bases had publicly affirmed that Tsiakourmas had been "violently and arbitrarily abducted".

Tsiakourmas, a building constructor who is a diabetic, was kidnapped while on his way to pick up Turkish Cypriot workers. His ongoing trial resumes on Tuesday after a four-day break.

Turkish Cypriot press said yesterday the European parliament's resolution carried only "advisory weight", while the Turkish Cypriot representative in Brussels, in a letter to the European Parliament, criticised the "unfair exploitation" of the Tsiakourmas case as well as Greek Cypriot efforts to use it as a propaganda tool.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

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