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Cyprus

CyTA chairman Stathis Kittas

THE ENTIRE board of the telecoms semi-government organisation announced their resignation yesterday following a series of allegations made by different board members of irregularities regarding the sale of phone cards and double dealings in the bidding for a digital platform.

The leadership of the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CyTA) was thrown into disarray yesterday when what started as a trickle became a tidal wave of resignations. The first board member to resign was Stelios Amerikanos on Friday who presented his resignation to President Demetris Christofias saying that the situation at CyTA was not allowing the board to operate properly.

At around midday yesterday, the board’s Vice-Chairman Loizos Papacharalambous handed in his resignation, noting that “the events of the last few weeks, starring members of the board, have discredited staff morale and irreparably tarnished the reputation of the organisation, which was built with such toil and trouble”.

Papacharalambous said his conscience and professionalism left him with no choice but to resign, hoping that in this way, he can “help CyTA get back on track and the state to take the right decisions”.

By early afternoon, after a 15-minute meeting, the entire board, including Chairman Stathis Kittis and the remaining seven board members, announced their decision to stand down too.

By late afternoon, government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said all the resignations were accepted by the president, who will appoint a new board “very soon”.

Kittis spoke of a “war” being waged against the semi-government organisation (SGO), adding that the resignation of the board was decided to help the president deal with the situation.

“There’s been a war waged lately. Everybody is witness to this war that has taken place against CyTA,” he said. “We won’t play this game.”

He said the board had worked hard to enhance transparency of procedures but that “this caused the reaction of many who do not want the good of CyTA for various reasons”.

Kittis also rejected allegations made against the board, saying he would continue to do so unless evidence was produced to prove otherwise.

Stefanou said the president accepted the resignations and thanked the board for their contribution in “adverse conditions”.

“Of course in appointing a new board, the president and cabinet cannot disregard all that has happened.”

DISY second-in-command Averof Neophytou hit out at the government for the “sorry state” of affairs at CyTA and called on Christofias to take political responsibility for appointing the board.

He argued that citizens hear about Christofias’ appointees and his government “using credit cards for personal use, they hear about money being moved in plastic bags, they hear that half of the CyTA board is under investigation for possible criminal offences” and all those allegations made by other members of the board.

“This is a sorry state and AKEL must stop giving moral lessons in politics,” said Neophytou.

Stefanou hit back saying Neophytou made himself judge and jury, condemning board members.

The telecoms giant has had a fair amount of bad press in recent weeks, following allegations that one of its board members, Giorgos Constandinou, had sold pre-paid phone cards worth some €300,000 for cash without authorisation.

As a result of that affair, Constandinou resigned his post as executive chairman of a CyTA subsidiary while Kittis had also asked the president to dismiss Constandinou from CyTA’s board as well.

Meanwhile, the same member, Constandinou, reported Kittis to the police for alleged double dealing in an auction for the second digital platform being offered by the state. The first licence for digital terrestrial television was given to the state broadcaster CyBC.

Parliament, accused by some of acting in the interests of private television channels, voted earlier this year against CyTA taking part in the bid for the second licence. However, the bill was referred back to parliament by Christofias. The House vetoed the referral, sending the bill to the Supreme Court for judgement.

The Attorney-general subsequently cleared CyTA of any wrong-doing saying they were acting within their rights to participate in the bidding process for the second platform.

In the meantime, CyTA pulled out of the bidding process in the seventh round of the bidding with its last offer standing at €4.1 million. After more than a dozen rounds of bidding, the price now stands at just under €10 million.

However, the bidding was suspended last week amid allegations of double-dealing between one of the bidders and CyTA.

The Telecoms Regulator decided to suspend the auction until this week after Constandinou claimed Kittis was trying to influence the outcome.

He claimed that Kittis held contacts with officials of LRG, a Cypriot/Greek concern, one of the two companies vying for the second digital licence. The other candidate is Velister, a consortium of local television channels.

He accused Kittis of meeting with officials from Greek company LRG at his office during the bidding procedure – and before CyTA withdrew. The CyTA chairman told parliament last Friday that the only meeting he had was with the company spokesmen, which took place following pressure by a number of MPs. He said during that meeting, LRG suggested a collaboration, which he rejected without discussion as he felt it wasn’t legal.

According to the Communications Ministry permanent secretary, in the event that the two other bidders don’t accept the amount that was set by the Telecoms Regulator - €9.5 million - then the procedure goes back to the last amount they accepted, which was €9 million. If both withdraw their bids, the platform will go to the third bidder – CyTA.