Filenews 25 February 2023
Numerous illegalities in the management of Turkish Cypriot property by civil servants and members of advisory committees who distributed the deck as to their disposal, the Legal Service detects, at first sight.
Suspicions of a feast had led the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Refugees, Nikos Kettiros, to ask for the names of those employees or members of advisory committees who own Turkish Cypriot properties. When the relevant evidence was given, the Minister of the Interior gave instructions to conduct an investigation and after its completion, the findings of the investigating officer were forwarded to the Legal Service. At yesterday's meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Refugees, the Legal Service was invited to attend, but the Attorney General preferred to send a letter stating that "in relation to the finding of the investigating officer, it has been received and due to the seriousness of the issues, a team has been set up in the Legal Service to study the case and decide on further measures". The letter states that due to the above, the Legal Service considers that it was not necessary to represent it in the (yesterday's) session.
The Auditor General of the Republic Odysseas Michaelides said that his Office conducted an investigation into the management of Turkish Cypriot business premises. "On our part, there was some delay, due to the fact that we identified several issues that we needed to investigate," said Odysseas Michaelides, who added that a letter was sent to the director general of the Ministry of Interior with a request that he forward his comments by March 10, so that they can be taken into account in the final report. "If there is a timely response, in April we will prepare our report," he said. "I have to tell you," he continued, "that almost everything we looked for arises issues."
At this point, the officer of the Audit Office, Marina Drakou, informing the MPs, said that based on information from the Ministry of Interior, out of the 120,243 pieces, 8,880 concerned premises and open spaces that were granted for professional activity.
Of these, 5,746 or 65% are managed by refugees. Another 536 or 6% were allocated to non-refugees, 77 or 1% were given to displaced Local Government Authorities and, finally, 2,521 pieces were allocated to non-displaced Local Government Authorities. As Mrs. Drakou explained, it was found that despite the decision of the Council of Ministers to make public all available Turkish Cypriot properties, this is not always the case.
Intervening, the Auditor General warned that failure to disclose the available Turkish Cypriot properties could lead to transactions under the table for the benefit of the parties instead of the State. That is, when the fact that a certain Turkish Cypriot property is offered for disposal is not made public, its holder can apply to the Ministry of Interior and declare that he wants it to be made available to a person with whom they previously agreed, receiving black money. In this case, both the owner of the property (who closes the deal under the table) as well as the person who undertakes the management of the property (business premises, etc.) benefit, earning money himself, without the State having any benefit.
Ms. Drakou also mentioned that the following were identified in the context of the audit:
>>There were applications to acquire Turkish Cypriot properties with omissions, which means that they should not have been examined but were nevertheless examined.
>> The rent was deemed problematic, either because it was not the market or because it is not documented how the specific amount was determined. Variations in the rent that had been set were also identified without justifying why it was differentiated.
>> Some rents are not paid at all while others are late in their payment.
>> A change of use of premises was noted.
>> Subletting of premises was detected, which is not allowed.
>> Additions and conversions were found without approval.
>> Issues arise with the computer system, which may not give a complete picture of what is happening and who owns what.
>> There are also issues with the structure, power and decisions.
Regarding the non-disclosure of Turkish Cypriot properties that are available, the Director of the Service, George Mattheiopoulos, clarified that the majority of them are made public. He also assured that available houses are counted on the fingers of one hand, per province, etc.
The Auditor General finds a thing
Regarding a second investigation conducted by the Audit Office, which is related to the investigation of the Ministry of Interior, regarding Turkish Cypriots held by employees or members of advisory committees, Odysseas Michaelides said that there are findings but, as he said, the report will be ready in May. He also referred to a problematic case involving an applicant who was related to a member of the committee examining his application.
Mrs. Drakou, for her part, mentioned that there are large areas of land that are leased to employees of the Turkish Cypriot Property Management Service, mainly in Paphos. It was also said that someone who owns property can be favoured, from within, in terms of rents, their payment, etc. Such irregular/ illegal actions can also be done due to the fact that there is no computerized system that leaves traces, as has been characteristically said, so that exactly what happened can be traced. Specifically, regarding the management of pieces of land, the Audit Office will also request data from the KOAG, through which some farmers are subsidized.
As "F" already wrote, of the data filed by employees of the Management Service, only one of them owns about 1,825,447sq.m. (almost 2 million sq.m.) which were reduced by the former Minister of Interior, Socrates Hasikos, after the intervention of the Auditor General, to 884,622sq.m. He (or members of his family) reportedly receives a grant of about €25,000 from the KOAG although he does not cultivate the land, which is used for grazing. According to his own statement, he also owns a house, while close relatives own four other houses and other land.
Properties are owned by 16 of the 64 employees of the Management Service and it is these cases that were examined. Some of them have been taken to the Legal Service and are being examined.
It is also worth noting that some properties were granted to the families of the employees before they were hired by the Management Service and even, in some cases, many years ago. From time to time, the question arose as to whether, some informed from within, they claimed Turkish Cypriot properties while other refugees were unaware of the existence of the available properties.
INTERVENTION
Control and strengthening of the Management Service
At first there were only suspicions about the management of Turkish Cypriot properties, followed by anonymous complaints. When an inspection was carried out by an official of the Ministry of Interior and the finding was forwarded to the Legal Service, it seems that some cases, especially regarding the exploitation by individual employees or members of advisory committees, are confirmed. After all, the Auditor General has been shouting for a long time and, in fact, recorded cases of dealings, which do not only concern civil servants.
The state must complete the investigations and at the same time support the Management Service with personnel in order to impose order. Otherwise, the looting will continue to no real effect. Of course, the great looting began decades ago and now there are just some extreme cases.
