MPs on Wednesday pointed to possible violations of the law regarding Opap grants, saying that Opap may be “filtering” the applications before sending them to the finance ministry.

The House ethics committee discussed a bill providing for Opap to inform the House of grants and to make them public on its website.

The bill was proposed by Akel MPs Giorgos Loukaides and Andreas Pasiourtides, to improve transparency, accountability and control surrounding grants.

Loukaides said it was not deemed necessary to publicise the names of individuals, however those receiving grants should be included in a confidential list sent to the House.

Finance ministry representative Lucy Herodotou Mouskou said that, by law, 5 per cent of Opap’s gross profits was allocated to grants through three bodies: 50 per cent by a five-member committee comprising three government and two Opap representatives, 25 per cent by the finance ministry and 25 per cent by Opap’s board of directors.

Discussions focused on the 25 per cent distributed by the finance ministry, as Opap appeared to be making proposals to the ministry without the ministry being aware of all the applications, including those rejected.

Pasiourtides said this was in violation of the law and that decisions should be taken mutually and asked the finance ministry how it could make decisions if only the applications sorted by Opap reached it for approval.

Disy MP Nikos Georgiou said there should be regulations for handling funds, however he pointed out that Opap was doing a better job than any other public or private fund.

Diko MP Zacharias Koulias said if the funds were distributed properly, then those taking the decisions were covered.

Opap Cyprus CEO Alexandros Davos said the amount given for grants was about €4.5 million per year, that there was no reason for lack of transparency and that Opap would follow any decision taken.
The grants, he said, were allocated to health, education, society, culture and sports.

Law Office representative Demetra Kalli said Opap should not “filter” the applications.
Personal data commissioner Irene Loizidou Nicolaidou said the bill appeared to provided for transparency.

Independent MP Andreas Themistocleous said he was against the bill, pending a Supreme Court decision.