Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 98-10-14

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cynews.com/>

Wednesday, October 14, 1998

CONTENTS

[01] Bishops to decide Chrysanthos' fate

[02] London will have to step in over refugee problem

[03] Hotline for the Millennium Bug

[04] Greek school despair over government procrastination

[05] Vassiliou joins top delegation for Israel summit

[06] Turks detain Greek Cypriot

[07] 1999 opening for revamped Salamis Bay

[08] Police hunt thieves for taking the piss

[01] Bishops to decide Chrysanthos' fate

THE HOLY Synod yesterday appointed a three-man committee to investigate whether Limassol Bishop Chrysanthos should be defrocked following a Church probe which has found him guilty of multiple breaches of Church law.

The Holy Synod took the decision after studying the findings of its own special investigation committee, which has apparently outlined 15 violations concerning the bishop's financial dealings.

"The Holy Synod has appointed a three-member investigating body comprising Bishop Chrysostomos of Kitium, Bishop Pavlos of Kyrenia and Bishop Neophytos of Morphou.

"After publishing their findings, the Holy Synod will meet to take a final decision," said a Church statement released after yesterday's meeting.

Under Church regulations and procedures, a three-member body made up of Holy Synod members must be appointed in order for a defrocking process to be activated.

"When the Holy Synod appoints a high-ranking three-member committee, then undoubtedly one of the punishments they can decide on is for the bishop to be defrocked," Chrysanthos' lawyer, Christos Kitromilitis, told CyBC TV yesterday.

"Certainly, today's decision is a negative development because until today the possibility of the bishop being defrocked was never an issue."

Chrysanthos reportedly described the Holy Synod's decision as "very good" and "satisfactory".

If the three-member team finds the bishop guilty of violating Church regulations, then Chrysanthos will be referred to an ecclesiastical court made up of 13 bishops.

According to the leaked report, there are around 15 points on which Chrysanthos has a case to answer to the Church, ranging from involvement in foreign companies to excluding financial transactions from the Limassol Bishopric accounts.

Some of the alleged violations of Church law include using the official seal of the Limassol Bishopric for Chrysanthos' own financial transactions, using foreign bank accounts without a Central Bank permit, obtaining immovable property without Church permission, receiving and transferring huge sums which could be the product of money laundering, and making financial agreements without the Holy Synod's approval.

Chrysanthos was also taken to task in the report for making contradictory statements to the Holy Synod, not coming forward with information, and refusing to submit documents to the investigation committee when asked.

Chrysanthos - who is still under police investigation on related allegations, and faces a total of 36 counts of alleged fraud and conspiracy to defraud - was also described in the report as co-operating with "dubious characters" in various countries.

Kitromilitis denied the 15 points cited in the committee's report, saying they were assumptions and not facts.

"The committee had no right to make any conclusions: the synopsis was based on assumptions, which is legally unacceptable,"he said.

Throughout the months of intense media speculation over the bishop's alleged multi-million investment scams, Chrysanthos has stressed his innocence and said he would not resign from his position.

Wednesday, October 14, 1998

[02] London will have to step in over refugee problem

YESTERDAY'S talks between the Republic and Britain, while "constructive," did not settle who has final responsibility for the 75 boat people now at Britain's Akrotiri airbase, and London will have to intervene, a British High Commission spokesman said.

Foreign Minister Iannakis Cassoulides, British High Commissioner David Madden and Attorney-general Alecos Markides met for about an hour yesterday to discuss the plight of the illegal immigrants, whose leaking boat washed ashore last Thursday at the British Sovereign Bases Area at Akrotiri.

"It wasn't a confrontational meeting of who's responsible, us or you, or anything like that. It was a purely co-operative and constructive meeting," High Commission Spokesman Piers Cazalet said.

The three officials "entirely agreed that the way forward is pragmatic co- operation... in sorting out the needs of these people and what's going to be done with them," he continued.

"We're going to have more discussions about the details," he said, adding that Madden would "have to consult with London on a couple issues." He declined to be more specific about the details or any likely date for the matter's resolution.

Cazalet denied that the talks might involve Britain's surrender of any degree of the sovereign status of either the Royal Air Force Base at Akrotiri or the Dhekelia Garrison.

"The status of the bases is clearly set out in the 1960 Treaty of Establishment... and no one is challenging that," he said. The Treaty ended Cyprus' status as a British colony and ceded the two bases to Britain as sovereign territory, in perpetuity.

Markides told The Sunday Mail that his reading of the Treaty of Establishment indicated Britain, not Cyprus, was responsible for the 75 boat people, and he would appreciate Madden's pointing out any of the Treaty's language to the contrary.

"Both us and the Cyprus Republic recognise there are pressing humanitarian needs that we have to satisfy for these people, and it's important to work on those, rather than getting into arcane legal wrangles about sovereignty status," Cazalet said.

But he conceded the talks were unprecedented "at this level" in relations between Cyprus and Britain.

"When we've had immigration problems like this before," he said, "they've normally been sorted out at a slightly lower level. But I suppose, given the fact that there are more people involved (than in past situations), it's gone to a slightly higher level."

The 41 men, 10 women, 19 children and five infants, one of them born at sea - most of them Iraqis - are being housed in a new British military barracks building at the Akrotiri air base, pending resolution of their final status.

The 75 migrants spent two days adrift after the three crewmen of their overcrowded boat - believed to be Lebanese - fled in a rubber dinghy, leaving them to their fates in a craft that a Bases spokesman has described as "a floating coffin."

Meanwhile, police sources indicated yesterday that Cyprus had deported 36 of the 113 boat people who came ashore in the Republic in an overcrowded Syrian trawler in June, leaving 50 still in the Republic's custody at the Pefkos hotel in Limassol, and another 27 in Larnaca.

Wednesday, October 14, 1998

[03] Hotline for the Millennium Bug

Aimed especially at businesses, the committee offers an advice hotline on 02-806386. Advice is also available on the internet, at and queries can be e-mailed to the committee on

The committee has also issued a set of seven basic guidelines for coping with the millennium bug:

1) Decide how your company will face the problem, and if unable to cope alone, find someone qualified to help you.

2) Systematically list all electronic equipment in your possession, and all electrical services supplied by third parties.

4) Contact the manufacturers of your electrical equipment to check if it is protected.

5) If equipment needs upgrading, prioritise this in order to minimise expense.

6) Ensure that any new purchases are guaranteed millennium bug protected.

7) Make sure all organisations you deal with also take precautions in order to avoid being affected if their services are disrupted by the bug.

The millennium bug is expected to cause worldwide chaos as the date changes from December 31 1999 to January 1 2000, as older computer systems were designed to recognise the year only by the last two digits, i.e. 1999 as 99. It is feared that many will read only the 00 of 2000, and think the year is 1900.

Wednesday, October 14, 1998

[04] Greek school despair over government procrastination

THE GREEK Association for Language Enhancement (GALE), which is currently in the process of setting up the first Greek Cypriot community school in London, has still not received any news on the financial contribution promised by the government.

"We have reached desperation point" over the matter, GALE spokeswoman Antonia Kastelanides said in a statement issued yesterday.

Gale has asked for �500,000 from the government, to be given in three stages beginning in January next year.

Eighty per cent of the �4 million cost of the school, to be named St Cyprian's, is being met by the British Education Authority, which will also pay all running costs once the school is set up. But in spite of promises from Education Minister Lycourgos Kappas that there should be no problem with the Cypriot government's financial contribution to the project, GALE says it has yet to hear anything concrete.

After a meeting with the minister earlier in the year, GALE was told the request would be taken before the Council of Ministers "as soon as possible".

However, they have received no news since, and are now being told that Cyprus is "co-ordinating its efforts with the Greek education ministry."

Greece has already pledged support for the school, and has already seconded a teacher to London to work with GALE on the preparation for the placement of Greek on the school curriculum.

"What we and the whole Greek community in the UK are totally bewildered and extremely hurt about is why is it taking so long for the Cyprus government to give us a positive response. In procrastinating to this extent, they are jeopardising the project's success. Their indecisiveness and procrastination has in effect wrecked the project's chances of raising funds from any alternative sources because it is effectively too late for us to do so now," the GALE statement said. GALE has already raised over �450,000 privately.

St Cyprian's will teach the English National curriculum alongside Greek language, religion and culture. The school day will be extended by 30 or 45 minutes in order to include the extra lessons.

Recently highlighted in a report in the Times Educational Supplement, the school it is to be situated in Croydon with the full support of the local council, and will open in September 1999, catering for primary school- children.

Wednesday, October 14, 1998

[05] Vassiliou joins top delegation for Israel summit

Vassiliou said yesterday on emerging from talks with Clerides that he would be a keynote speaker at the Prime Minister's Jubilee Business Summit in Jerusalem, a major regional business gathering.

The Business Summit has attracted some of the top high-tech companies and largest industrial corporations in the developed world. It runs from October 13 to 15.

Israeli business leaders came to Nicosia in September to extend personal invitations to Cypriot business, governmental and political leaders. Commerce, Industry and Tourism Minister Nicos Rolandis and Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry chairman Vassillis Rologis are heading up the Cyprus delegation.

At the time, the Israelis also noted there were hundreds of millions of dollars in Israeli joint-venture investment capital going wanting business partners, as well as thousands of high-tech jobs unfilled for lack of qualified Israelis.

They invited Cyprus businessmen to exploit the investment capital by forming Israeli-Cypriot joint ventures, and said they were interested in attracting the legion of over-educated, under-employed Cypriot youths to Israel's open high-tech jobs.

Vassiliou said Israel was important to Cyprus as "a neighbouring country" and because of the "strong Jewish lobby in the US."

As to the military agreement between Israel and Turkey, he said: "Israel has its own reasons for the agreement," but added that Cyprus was concerned lest Ankara again use its military strength against the Republic.

Israel insists its military pact with Turkey is not aimed against Cyprus or "any third country."

Wednesday, October 14, 1998

[06] Turks detain Greek Cypriot

According to police reports, Kyriakos Sotiriou, 32, drove into the Turkish occupied areas through the Dhekelia British Sovereign Base.

Unficyp yesterday confirmed that Sotiriou, originally from Famagusta and now settled in Larnaca, is being held by Turkish Cypriot 'police' and is expected to appear before a 'court' today.

Unficyp said yesterday an Australian civilian policeman was expected to be allowed to see Sotiriou after a failed attempt on Monday.

Meanwhile, a 16-year-old Turkish national, Gulmen Mehemet, is in police custody in Nicosia after being arrested by police on Friday. No details have been released about the circumstances of his arrest.

Wednesday, October 14, 1998

[07] 1999 opening for revamped Salamis Bay

According to Kibris, Istanbul Airlines, which is the operator of the Greek Cypriot owned hotel in Famagusta, is continuing the hotel's refurbishment plan.

The general manager of the airline, Mehmet Kral, said that once it was finished, the hotel would have 1,100 beds and the swimming pool would be enlarged to from 400 square metres to 1,200 square metres. Kral said the completed hotel will be five-star and would also cater for conference tourism. The cost of the make-over will be in the region of $10-15 million.

Kral said the complex would be opened in March 1999 and would employ some 250 people on a permanent basis, rising to 450 in peak season.

Wednesday, October 14, 1998

[08] Police hunt thieves for taking the piss

Nicosia CID are anxious to trace the specimen bottles from the ten animals, as the break-in is believed to be connected to a possible doping case at the race track.

The head of security at the Race Club, Christodoulos Argyrou, told police yesterday that between Sunday night and Tuesday morning the locked freezer containing the samples was broken into.

He said the samples had been taken from ten horses on Sunday during the last race meeting at the Nicosia track.

The samples were to have been sent to England for analysis to discover whether any horses had been given illegal drugs, police said yesterday.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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