In a statement after the Committee's meeting, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Audit Committee, Zacharias Koulias, said that "one of the issues discussed by the Committee was the issue of allegations of some bribery by members of the previous Council and to a large extent several colleagues complained regarding the issues of criminal prosecution."
He said he was informed by the Assistant Attorney General that the reason the Legal Service could not proceed is because the complainant provided the papers but did not want to cooperate to give evidence and appear in court to support the papers he provided.
DISY MP Rita Theodorou Superman, in a statement said that it appears that issues that have been of concern to the Authority's Councils for years "have been put in the Auditor General's Report and today the Auditor General's recommendations are being implemented, I would say, by the Broadcasting Authority".
"Other issues that have been reported are being wheeled out for resolution from the Ministry of Interior to the Ministry of Finance, and they relate to the drafting of the Director General of the Broadcasting Authority, which according to an opinion of the Attorney General appears to be legally given now to the Director General of the Broadcasting Authority," he added.
Regarding a channel owner's complaint against a member of the Authority's Board many years ago, Ms. Superman said that it is not possible to express safe opinions on this matter because this case was investigated by the police and closed by the Legal Service due to lack of evidence.
"Taking any position on this matter is dangerous and would create false impressions, because every coin has two sides and the evidence we had before us can be explained in different ways," he added.
AKEL MP Irini Charalambidou[/B] said in a statement that the Audit Service has submitted evidence today, which raises questions in relation to bribery and in relation to bribery of a member of the Broadcasting Authority's Board of Directors.
"The case had ended up with the Police, there was an investigation and as the Chairman of the Commission informed us, the Attorney General informed him that he did not proceed with the matter because the person who had reported it refused to proceed," he said.
"Well, our information is that the reason he refused to proceed is because when one is involved in bribery he is prosecuted like the person who receives the amount, so bribery, bribery are both offences," she added.
Therefore, she continued. Charalambidou, "from the moment the Legal Service was absent, from the moment the Police were absent, we could not ask the reasonable question why was the complainant not offered an exemption from the charge of bribery, as was done with many prosecution witnesses in the case of, for example, SAPA, so that the case could proceed."
"Let me say that the Audit Office has given us cheques which were issued by this particular canal owner to a particular person on the Authority's Board. There was no name on the cheque, but there was his name on the cashing on the back of the cheque. So, the question arises: Have the police gone to the bank to check these things; what findings did they come up with; did they stop the case because he refused to avoid prosecution; these are questions we have not been able to get an answer to," he added.
Charalambidou also said that there is a huge issue of conflict of interest, which should be of concern to the Authority's own Board now that all this evidence has come to their attention through the Audit Service.
In response to a question, Ms Charalambidou said that they were cheques with an equal amount of €250 each, but there are many cheques and all cashed by the same person and there are invoices from other companies that delivered other products to that person.
Finally, he noted that they recommended that the meeting be continued so that the Police could come before the Commission in order to have a picture.
Source: CNA
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