Updates

• Corruption suspect Theophanis Lolos is charged with 7.6 million-Euro fraud of the state and bribery of public servants in the waste management scandal in Paphos, Famagusta and Larnaca municipalities.
• Interior Minister Socrates Hasikos cancels state contract with Enviroplan on basis that its director, Lolos, is charged with fraud.
• The extradition of another suspect in the corruption case - Leonidas Bobolas - has been delayed after a Greek court asked the Cypriot authorities for more information.

Archive photo of Theofanis Lolos signing an agreement in a Turkish municipality.

Police have two more arrest warrants in the landfill waste management corruption scandal based on the statements made by Greek national Theophanis Lolos, the director of Enviroplan, reports the Cyprus News Agency. The warrants are for AKEL party member Venizelos Zannettos, and Andreas Kokkinides, who appears to be the ‘fixer’ between Zannettos and another prime suspect; Leonidas Bobolas. Zanettos is already in jail for his part in the Dromolaxia land purchase corruption case, in which five public officials - including the ex-chairman of CYTA’s board - were convicted of accepting bribes and money laundering.

Enviroplan was supposed to supervise Helector, the company accused of massive overcharging and bribery of public officials. Lolos is a consultant for the Interior Ministry and is heavily connected with the owner of Helector, Leonidas Bobolas, who turned himself in to Greek police in March, after the Cypriot authorities issued an arrest warrant.

The implication is that there is a connection between the Dromolaxia case and the Helector case, and that there is a ring of corrupt public servants and private companies which are raiding the public’s funds at will. Bribes are posing as political party donations, in the case of a 25,000 Euro payment made to AKEL for the Enviroplan contract; or paid outright as commissions on fake invoices, according to the evidence so far.

Corruption at the highest levels

File photo Theofanis Lolos.

After Interior Minister Socrates Hasikos pointed the finger at previous interior ministers Eleni Mavrou and Neoklis Sylikiotis, he now says that former presidents Dimitris Christofias and Tassos Papadopoulos also have political responsibility for the waste management bribery scandal.

Earlier, he called on the authorities to investigate his predecessors for the Helector landfill corruption case in which 19 people have been arrested on criminal charges.

The minister said he is sure that Tassos Papadopoulos did not take any bribes, in comments to the state broadcaster. Politicians are obliged to have relationships with businessmen, he said, in reference to a press report that Papadopoulos met with Helector owner George Bobolas, the father of Leonidas Bobolas who was just arrested in connection with the bribery scandal. Greek national Leonidas Bobolas was also arrested in 2015 for tax dodging to the tune of 1.8 million Euros.

Paphos Mayor Phedonos Phedonas originally raised the issue of Papadopoulos meeting with Bobolas by hinting that that the landfill management deal had been initiated by a high-profile lawyer with a political position. He has since given a statement to police amid an angry response from DIKO, which is headed by Tassos Papadopoulos’ son Nicolas Papadopoulos. Phedonas should apologise or give details of his allegations, said a DIKO spokeswoman.

The mayor’s statement to police was followed by a hoax bomb scare in his home.

Missing files

Conveniently, there are missing files in the original tender process for Helector’s landfill waste management contract, and Hasikos said that the public servants responsible were either retired or dead; and the police should investigate why the files are missing and take those responsible to court.

The minister is still busy with damage control in the wake of 18 arrests – including Larnaca mayor, public servants and employees of Helector – in the landfill corruption scandal.

Hasikos has suspended the interior ministry employees who are under arrest, and sent a letter to Larnaca Mayor Andreas Louroutzias telling him to resign.

Six people from Paphos already in custody

Six other suspects, including Greek Helector director Ioannis Kokotsis were arrested for questioning.

Kokotsis – who has close ties with the political circles in Cyprus and Greece – turned himself into the authorities after an arrest warrant was issued for him in connection with the corruption allegations in Paphos. Helector has managed the Paphos landfill since 2005 and is accused of bribing public officials, and overcharging for waste management services.

Kokotsis has denied knowing anything about the alleged crimes.

Political fallout

Interior Minister Hasikos has distanced himself from Kokotsis, saying that:

“If I were walking down the street, I wouldn’t recognise him because I only met him once at the Unit of Solid Waste Management at Kosi.”

“I never negotiated (with him).”

According to his announcement in 2015, Hasikos was responsible for reducing the 75 Euro per tonne fee for waste disposal to 39 Euros per tonne. He branded the previous contract as scandalous and bad for the taxpayer and the state, but publicly advocated that it be renegotiated and renewed nonetheless.

Bribery arrests

The other suspects in custody are Paphos municipality financial officer Dimitris Patsalides; Helector employee Michalis Michael; two Helector female employees and corrupt former mayor-turned-convict Savvas Vergas.

It’s estimated that the contractor overcharged by at least half-a-million Euros, passing on the costs to the public and bribing municipal and civil servants by paying fake invoices.

Public confrontation

For several months, there has been a public confrontation between Auditor-General Odysseas Michaelides and Interior Minister Socrates Hasikos over Helector’s contract. Michaelides said that the ministry has breached open competition rules by extending an existing waste-management contract instead of opening it to competing offers.

The company with the contract for Kosi unit may have offered a lower price, but will still make 17 million Euros in profit, and could earn the state a fine in the several millions from the European Union, said the auditor-general.

Hasikos rejected the arguments, claiming that Michaelides is over-zealous, and proceeded with renegotiating the contract anyway.

Now, the minister said he put someone else in charge of the renegotiation, Stratis Mattheou, who runs the Central Committee for Changes and Claims.

Hasikos defended himself, saying that two years ago, he was the one who ordered an initial investigation into the contract, which was made under the previous government’s administration.

Big business

Helector is a subsidiary of Ellaktor S.A., a listed Greek company owned by George and Leonidas Bobolas, and the largest construction company in Greece.

Another joint venture subsidiary – Helector-Ellaktor-Cybarco – has a 43 million-Euro contract with the government for the Larnaca-Famagusta waste treatment and disposal plants, according to its financial statements. The company’s directors are obviously heavily connected within the political and business circles in Cyprus and Greece. But if the corruption allegations are proved to be true, they could find more political figures scurrying to turn their backs like Hasikos just did.

Since the new allegations surfaced, the state has suspended payments to Helector and cancelled the contract. Meanwhile, the current mayor of Paphos Phedonas Phedonos said he had refused to pay Helector months ago on the basis it was overcharging.

Vergas promises to tell all

Vergas, who was convicted of accepting bribes in connection with first major corruption scandal connected with Paphos Sewerage Board (SBP) projects, told the media he knew of many more people responsible for corruption.

Most recently, he testified in the ongoing corruption trial linked with the SBP scandal, saying that he took 500,000 Euros in bribes and intended to buy an apartment in Thessaloniki, where his children are studying.

Vergas and the former CEO of SBP Eftychios Mallikides are serving six years in prison for their part in a multi-million Euro deal involving bribery, forgery, and witness intimidation.

Another five people are on trial in the case – George Michailides, Phidias Sarikas, Efstathios Efstathiou, Vassos Vassiliou, and George Sialis. They face allegations of bribing public officials, conflicts of interest and money laundering.

Damage to the environment

In the past, Helector and the Paphos municipality were criticised by environmentalists for pollution of the groundwater and for burning rubbish, sending toxic fumes around Marathounda, where the landfill is located.