The Special Report of the Auditor General on the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation for 2020, and specifically for the year ended 31.12.2019 (including issues that arose and were examined until December 2021), was examined today by the Parliamentary Audit Committee, with the Chairman of the Board of Directors of RIK, Michael Michael Michael, expressing his respect for the work of the Auditor General, Odysseus Michaelides, despite disagreements and tensions, and the Auditor General referring, among other things, to the 28% increase in RIK's payroll by 28%, but also mentioning specific cases by name.
In his statement, Auditor General, Odysseas Michaelides said that the value of the assets of the RIK Pension Fund "has been dismantled," because the Fund invested in securities that have lost value and does not have sufficient reserves, resulting in RIK adding 7-8 million In addition, Michaelides said that dozens of RIK's A4-A7 staff were upgraded to A8-A10-A12 within a year,[/B] calling it a "waste of public money." Payroll costs are estimated to have risen from €15.5 million to €20 million, an increase of 28%, he said.
"Why is the further hiring of temporary temporary staff allowed, given the overcrowding of journalists?" the Auditor General asked.
Michaelides referred to the case of a journalist who was hired at RIK in August 2021, after a letter from the former Chairman of the Board, Andreas Fragos, on May 24, 2021, to the Minister of Interior, Nikos Nouris, recommending the hiring of this journalist. The Auditor General referred to "interference by unauthorised bodies", referring to the former and current Chairman of the Board of Directors of RIK, Michael Michael Michael.
In his statement, Michael said that the Auditor General's report "contains inaccuracies and misleading statements". He replied that he had intervened to speed up the process of hiring the journalist in question, which he said took a year and a half.
Former deputy DG of RIK, Gregory Maliotis, noted that an application was submitted to the Ministry of Interior for the creation of a show after the end of "TET-A-TET" presented by Tasos Tryfonos. "We asked for a journalist/presenter for a similar programme and to speed up procedures," he said."
The Auditor General also mentioned the case of Savvas Aristodimos, a RIK official about whom there were allegations of misconduct and who had been seconded to the GTP but did not show up there, protesting against his secondment. He eventually returned to RIK and was promoted.
Mr Aristodimou[/B], who was present at the Commission, described his secondment to the GMP as "illegal". He added that, as president of the EYRIK guild, he had differences with the former Director General of RIK, Michael Maratheytis, hence his secondment. He said that he had filed a lawsuit against Mr. Maratheytis and Mr. Frangos.
The Auditor General also mentioned the case of Andreas Joseph, who, as an indefinite associate at RIK, was seconded to the Presidency of the Republic as Director of the Press Office of the President of the Republic. His secondment is not governed by the 2019 law, he said. "The man is a double employee, according to the Audit Office, although he is not paid by the PIC," he added.
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said that the Auditor General's report contains "several inaccuracies", adding that there are 181 permanent positions and 258 temporary employees. There was, he said, an attempt to equate the temporary staff with the permanent staff because the temporary staff were unfairly treated. He said that 330 employees were now serving in the RIC, and the aim was to reduce them to 260. "We have modernised the structure of the RIK to the extent possible," he said."
Michael Michael Michael said the RIK is also audited by an external auditor appointed by the Auditor General. Michael Michael replied that if Michael believes that the private auditing firm is not doing the due process, he should denounce it.
Next, the Auditor General called the 28% increase in the salary of the RIK, which was "for the sake of the RIK staff", an "achievement of the Ministry of Interior". In addition, he said that the representative of the Ministry of Interior was lying about the opinion of Polly Polybios on the issue of similar benefits for RIK employees. The representative of the Ministry of Interior said he felt offended by the statement of Mr. Michaelides and asked the deputy chairman of the Parliamentary Audit Committee, Chrysi Pantelides, to ask the Auditor General to withdraw the "liar" designation.
In his statement after the session of the committee, AKEL MP Christos Christofides spoke about a distorted perception that exists in the RIK that what the government says is important and what the opposition says is not. "There has been an attempt in recent years to put people of DISY's trust in key positions," he said, calling it an "attempt to completely partisanize public broadcasting."
He added that he would criticise the public and democratic shortcomings of RIK and expressed hope that there would be a change in the approach of RIK's leadership to enable the institution to perform its role properly.
DISY MP Onoufrios Koulla said that in previous years there had been a financial consolidation of RIK, with the limitation of the annual sponsorship. "But there had to be administrative consolidation at RIK and this was a demand of all political forces and representatives of employees," he indicated.
Administrative consolidation was achieved with the October 2020 agreement that corrects injustices and distortions in terms of human resources management, he noted. Culla.
The Chairman of the RIC Board, Michael Michael, spoke of a heated debate that took place in the Committee, but he fully respects the work of the Auditor General. He added that he will address points in the Auditor General's Report that need to be corrected, noting that there are also issues that concern him in the way they are presented.
"It would be good to avoid characterizations that belittle persons and situations," he said. "A very good discussion was held, which we will take very seriously," he concluded."
Source: CNA
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs Cyprus Times
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Times
Source
