Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 98-10-27

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

Tuesday, October 27, 1998

Defence issues dominate

YESTERDAY'S papers remained obsessed with defence issues as the six-day Nikiforos exercises wrapped up.

Haravghi, Simerini and Alithia all reported claims by a Greek businessman that middlemen moving between Cyprus, Greece and Russia would receive $64 million in commission when the Cyprus government completed purchase of Russian weapons systems.

Vassilis Vranas was filing suit in Athens, the papers said, because he had not received commission from the Russian government, even though he was the legal representative of the Russian arms manufacturers.

He said he could have got the weaponry 25 per cent cheaper for the Cyprus government and called for support from the Cyprus government for his suit.

Haravghi quoted Defence Minister Yiannakis Omirou as saying the claims had nothing to do with the Cyprus government, because it did not deal with middlemen.

The commission would relate to the S-300 missiles, worth $400 million, to 41 T-80 tanks worth $172 million, and 40 BPM3 armoured personnel carriers worth $68 million. Vranas says he has a letter showing that the Russian government had named him to former Greek defence minister Yerasmios Arsenis, appointing him as the exclusive representative for Greece, Cyprus and the Mediterranean.

Phileleftheros reported that Greek fighter jets had taken off from the Paphos air base to intercept Turkish planes and that plans for a naval base at Zygi were complete and were now awaiting a construction company to take on the job.

Jets left the base on Saturday to face Turkish jets violating Cyprus air space. Six Greek jets refuelled at the base on Sunday.

Machi reported that priests from all the island's districts would yesterday be called to the Archbishopric in an effort to identify two other clergymen photographed apparently coming out of a brothel in Paphos. The paper said the Archbishop had received the photos from police a couple of days ago.

The Bishop of Paphos says the priests in question are not from his district and confirmed that the photos were not fake, but he suggested the priests could have been Romanian clergymen visiting the cabaret girls.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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