Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 98-10-22

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

Thursday, October 22, 1998

New row breaks out in Disy

A NEW ROW has erupted within the ranks of Disy after the party's deputy Demetris Syllouris announced that he had a drawer full of scandals relating to semi-governmental organisations.

Haravghi reported that the row broke out after the meeting of the Disy parliamentary group on Tuesday. According to the paper, there was an exchange between Syllouris and Party leader Nicos Anastassiades, who called on the errant deputy to back his allegations with evidence. Failure to do this would make Syllouris an "accomplice" in the scandals, the Disy leader said.

Syllouris said that, in effect, his leader was asking deputies to become detectives. The paper said that the bickering was not unrelated to next year's elections for the party leadership.

Machi described Syllouris' outburst as the "second act" of the scandal-mongering, and said that Anastassiades had asked the deputy to submit all the information he had to the Party. The deputy said he would not comply with his leader's orders.

The party, according to the paper, is furious with Syllouris, whose stance is considered to be against the interests of Disy. The party political bureau will be discussing the matter at its next meeting, the paper said.

Phileleftheros said the government was determined to implement procedures and measures in order to clean up public life. It is aware that the public wants an end to corruption and scandals. For this reason even President Clerides was prepared to submit a personal capital statement.

The government planned to change the regime of the semi-governmental organisation to ensure against bad management. It also called on those making allegations of corruption to hand over their information to the authorities.

Alithia led with a report about the government's planned changes to the regime governing the operation of semi-governmental organisations, the objective being to prevent corruption. Clerides had for some time wanted to make changes, it said.

The three main points of the bill for these organisations were: the setting up of a central body to handle all tenders and purchases of semi- governmental organisations; the setting up of a body to handle all appointments; the establishment of a procedure that would allow the president to sack board members.

Simerini predicted that a battle would take place between the government and the parliamentary parties over the former's package of tax measures aimed at increasing state revenue. Disy is the only party that has taken a positive stance on the taxes, on the condition that "social benefits" are imposed in parallel.

Akel is opposed to the measures, while Edek and Diko have sought more information before taking a decision.The paper said that Clerides might ask for a meeting with the Party leaders in order to secure their support for the measures.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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