Piles of office furniture and box files labelled “Audit Service” were reported as having been discovered discarded in a field in Geri on Friday.
Speaking on CyBC’s morning radio, Mayor Neophytos Papalazarou described how a resident of the area had phoned the municipality to report the illegality shortly after 5pm on Thursday.
“I went to the scene and found two truck loads of wooden shelving, desks, box files and other items,” Papalazarou said.
The municipality proceeded immediately to identify and locate the owner of the field who, according to initial information, had claimed ignorance of the incident.
“I want to underscore that no one is permitted to dump any items anywhere even with the owner’s permission,” Papalazarou said.
The mayor contacted the audit service and the police has since launched an investigation.
“Ever since Aglantzia started implementing the ‘pay-as-you-throw scheme’ our municipality has become one giant rubbish tip,” Papalazarou said, adding that a green point was urgently necessary for the area.
The audit service reacted to the news on Friday by promptly assuring the public that the box files had been empty and no personal, sensitive, or confidential data, had been exposed.
The furniture, empty box files and old photocopiers had been discarded during the energy upgrade to Audit Service buildings, the service’s spokesman told the CyBC.
“We had put out bids for a removal and recycling service and accepted an offer for €892.50 for the complete and proper disposal of the items,” the audit service rep said. He added that “the old photocopiers had been taken to a state storage facility, as agreed, however, the other items had clearly not been handled as legally required.”
The company contracted to do the job was “a well known company with much larger contracts, of up to €80,000,” recommended by the public works department, he added.
The rubbish was supposed to be recycled and payment for the itemised cost of this, which the contracted company had presented to the audit service, had been frozen, since proof this had been carried out (in the form of a certificate from the recycling company) had never been received.
The Auditor General had reported the incident to the police, who are handling the matter in cooperation with the municipality.
Director of the Environment Department Lakis Mesimeris, for his part, assured that the “the strictest penalty of up to €20,000 would be imposed on violators.
“There is no luxury of tolerance anymore,” Mesimeris said.
The environment department in coordination with the police and municipal staff were embarking on a crack down on professional disposal services to tighten the screws on illegal operations, he said. “This incident is especially grave because it concerns a professional disposal company, not just individuals,” the director added.
The continued mass illegal dumping drastically heightens the fire hazard under the current prolonged drought conditions, Mesimeris said.
