I KNOW that in the era of wokeness we must always be kind and take not even a little pleasure in the woes of others, but it is extremely difficult to suppress such feelings when it is the mighty that are in a pickle.
You may have already guessed that I am referring to Dr Sizo, the bash-patriotic, Botox pioneer and former leader of the socialist party Edek, which he left in ruins when he resigned as its authoritarian chief a few months ago.
On Friday, the anti-corruption authority released the report of its investigation into allegations against Dr Sizo and identified the possibility that he may have committed four criminal offences – fraud, forgery, circulation of a fake document and conspiring to defraud.
The authority’s investigators found that a company owned by Dr Sizo and three other companies sold a company of which they were the shareholders, named Taxan, to an Iraqi investor (Cyprus passport applicant) for €2,025,000, but subsequently produced another sale contract putting the price at €1,600,000 which was presented to the bank so they would pay less in settlement of an NPL of the company.
The lower sale contract, which the authority claimed was forged, was also used by Dr Sizo’s company to pay lower capital gains tax, but this led to a dispute with the Tax Department.
THE GOOD doctor, by nature, was much more of a capitalist than a socialist as he obviously liked to make a buck or two and minimise his tax payments.
The forged sale document (it was issued on 17/10/2017 while the original was issued on 4/10/2017) was used to make a small payment to the bank. It saved the debtors almost 40 per cent on the debt to the bank, which also included interest and charges.
If the original sale contract was shown, the bank would have taken the full amount (€2,025,000) as interest and charges had raised the money owed by Taxan to close to €2.5m. In the end, thanks to the forged document, the bank took €1.6m, which was the amount of the original loan, and wrote off the rest of debt.
It could have had another €400,000, but as the anti-corruption authority said, “the use of the contract dated 17/10/2017 was made with the purpose of misleading a third party (the bank) and for making a profit.”
Why such a fuss when it was only a bank he may have cheated out of 400 grand? I am surprised Akel has not yet issued a statement congratulating him for this rare victory over an evil, inhuman and greedy bank.
APOLOGIES for deviating from the subject I started on – my insensitive enjoyment of Dr Sizo’s troubles – but I feel obliged to offer an explanation.
Dr Sizo was staggeringly arrogant without the intellect to justify it and insufferably self-righteous, regularly giving political sermons, advertising his moral superiority and posing as a leader of high principles. It is these qualities and his penchant for authoritarianism that led to a mass exodus of Edek members.
The investigation, which found the allegations of corrupt acts were well-founded, made a complete mockery of Dr Sizo’s moral posturing and principle-peddling. When hypocrisy on such an epic scale is exposed, you cannot help but enjoy it.
PREDICTABLY, Dr Sizo denied everything with his inimitable arrogance, which it appears nothing can diminish. He told Politis radio that the main findings of the investigation were “baseless,” underlining that he was “pentakatharos” (spotlessly clean) and declaring that “if they want war, they will have it.”
He pointed out that “my war will not be dirty.” Marino, you did not have to say this, we know that a spotlessly clean man can only wage a clean war, with “facts and documents.”
And if he fails to prove the baselessness of the findings he could resort to Plan B – he said he would ask the authorities if the anti-corruption authority had the right to investigate the specific case and if it had the right to publicise its findings.
When all else fails, we can question the validity of the procedure.
I CAN’T say that I took any pleasure from hearing that former volunteerism commissioner Yiannaki Yiannaki was sentenced to three years in prison for using forged documents to get a job in the public sector.
You could only feel sorry for the goofy-looking Yiannaki, who was just a loser, not blessed with a great brain, that wanted to be a somebody. He was never going to move up from the position of office clerk or improve his earnings in the private sector, so he targeted a job in the public sector in which low ability is not penalised.
He joined a political party and he used a forged school leaving certificate, a forged US university degree and forged letter of recommendation to get into the Youth Agency, a semi-governmental organisation, used as a dumping ground for otherwise unemployable members of political parties.
The guy had worked at the Youth Agency for three decades before being appointed commissioner of volunteerism. He thought he had made it, realised his dream, admittedly with a bit of cheating, but his time as a somebody did not last very long. He was eventually found out and ended up behind bars.
Yiannaki may have been dishonest, but he was a much more likeable guy than the spotless Sizo.
WORKPLACE wokeness has finally arrived in Kyproulla, I am sad to report. A female employee of Nicosia municipality has reported Mayor Charalambos Prountzos for an intense verbal assault during a teleconference at the workplace, according to Phil.
The phrases Prountzos used, the employee said, constituted “insulting and intimidating behaviour.” The gentle soul said that verbal assault had serious consequences on her health, as she suffered a panic attack and had to be taken to hospital by ambulance.
She does not want Prountzos charged. All she wants is a written apology from the mayor and the safeguarding of her dignity when performing her duties. And I was under the illusion that wokeness and the demand that everyone is kind to everyone would never enter our backward island.
I thought Prountzos did not have it in him to speak nastily to staff, but he obviously has more abilities than I had credited him with. He denied, however, he had verbally attacked the sensitive employee, but like a smart lawyer, “apologised for any upset caused by the momentary tension.”
THE GOVERNMENT, in its effort to sort out the big mess it has created by the promises Prezniktwo had given the unions about CoLA, has made an even bigger mess.
On Monday, at a brief meeting with the two sides, the communist labour minister Yiannis Panayiotou unveiled a new idea – the payment of CoLA to all employees by law, but lower percentages to the high earners and the ability of the government to suspend it in times of high inflation.
Both sides rejected this, with employers’ organisations saying unless the proposal for universal CoLA was withdrawn they would not return to the negotiating table. As for the unions, they have always argued that all workers must receive the same percentage of CoLA, irrespective of their pay.
The government mediation at least achieved a result – deadlock.
IT IS NOT the union-loving minister who is blame for this but the Prez, who promised Sek union bosses before the second Sunday of the presidential elections that he would fully restore CoLA if he were elected.
He had gone to the Sek offices to make the promise and the meeting was filmed, so he cannot deny making it. The union was so pleased that it publicly backed Nik II’s candidacy. Now, Nik is not only refusing to honour his promise of full restoration, he wants to reduce the 67 per cent of CoLA being paid to high earners.
Having pissed off the union bosses, his people-pleasing instinct led him to propose CoLA for all, believing it would endear him to the lowest-paid workers. It may have, but employers will not even discuss this.
Now all we can do is wait for the unions to announce a couple of 24-hour national strikes because the Prez has not kept his idiotic promise.
A COFFEESHOP customer was very surprised that it was not only workers who had staged a three-hour strike on Thursday.
Government computers and servers also refused to work. How did he know.
He tried to make an income tax payment at 11.05am on Thursday and the system would not allow him to do so. The payment he made at 10.55am went through without a problem.
Are government computers striking for 100 per cent CoLA as well?
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