Filenews 17 May 2024
€857,463 was allocated to a hotel unit without meeting the criteria, the CTO decided that the money could not be recovered, a disciplinary investigation was ordered regarding the handling by officers / employees of the Organization involved in the relevant decisions and did not break a nose.
It is noted that the Council of Ministers had decided to conduct a disciplinary investigation but at some stage, after the "absorption" of the CTO by the Deputy Ministry of Tourism, it seems that any disciplinary procedure is terminated, rewarding all those who loaded the above amount on taxpayers in favour of a hotelier.
We contacted the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Mr. Costas Koumis (who was not a Deputy Minister when the matter was being examined) and he limited himself to saying that he did not wish to make any comment given that court proceedings are ongoing (case of the Mayor of Ayia Napa).
It is noted that in addition to the CTO's Internal Auditor, who considered that "the result, i.e. the disintegration of the project following instructions from the European Commission Services on 16.4.2015, proves that the Investment Approval Committee should have accepted the recommendation of the Evaluation Team and not proceeded with the inclusion of the project in the Plan", the Internal Audit Service of the Republic also dealt with the issue. It concluded that the beneficiary (hotelier) had not obtained the required score of five points and that this proposal should have been rejected as well as the recommendation of the Evaluation Team.
It is noted that the CTO Advisor, who dealt in depth with the provisions of the Scheme, also considered that the criteria were not met. A member of the CTO team that handled the application had indicated that a note from a well-known consulting firm (which favoured the hotelier) could not be ignored and the explanation of the CTO's consultant accepted.
It is reported that with the manipulations made by CTO officers, Cyprus became a jealousy, and the Services of the European Commission, aware of what was happening, even considered the possibility of cutting not only the sponsorship related to this hotel but also the sponsorship of other projects of the period 2007-2013 amounting to €7.8 million.
