Auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides has asked the public prosecutor for a criminal investigation into OSEL bus company’s fuel contracts, he said in a written statement.

Mr. Odysseas wants to know where some two million euros in fuel contracts were spent, and what happened to a five percent ‘discount’ that was supposed to benefit the state.

The public transportation company has opaque contracting procedures, and doesn’t follow public procurement rules, acting against fair competition and the public interest, he said.

The auditor-general brushed off OSEL’s recent claim that it would accept offers from other suppliers in a more transparent procedure, saying that he had sent a letter to the company to start these as far back as 2013.

Mr. Michaelides has already uncovered a considerable number of corrupt deals in the state and municipal sectors, starting with the Paphos Sewerage Board scandal which put former mayor Savvas Vergas in jail for accepting half-a-million Euros in bribes.

Most recently, six suspects were arrested for questioning in the notorious Paphos landfill corruption case that recently hit the headlines. Helector, the waste management company responsible for the landfill, allegedly paid off municipal workers and overcharged millions of Euros for waste management services.

Mr. Odysseas criticised Interior Minister Socrates Hasikos for not offering the chance for other companies to make waste management offers. Instead, the minister renegotiated the existing contract with Helector to lower the fees paid on waste management at Kosi landfill in Larnaca.

But the Paphos municipality was stuck with Helector’s high prices and bad service. The company reportedly burned garbage in the Marathounda landfill, releasing toxic fumes and triggering complaints from the residents.

Paphos Mayor Phedonas Phedonos complained several times about the company and put it under investigation, while refusing to pay the extremely high waste management fees.

The suspects, including Helector Director Ioannis Kokotsis, have been remanded for eight days.