In a heated atmosphere, the Parliamentary Audit Committee examined the special report of the Audit Service for the Municipality of Paralimni for the years 2014- 2015, which includes allegations against Mayor Theodoros Pyrillis.
The report, which was briefly presented by the Auditor General during the meeting, refers to arbitrary interventions in the beach protection zone, awarding works to contractors without a tender, acquisition of a piece of land by the Mayor and subsequent development of the area, and the establishment of a non-profit company, in which the Mayor participated, which, according to Odysseus Michaelides, received privileged information.
"This company receives privileged information from the municipalities and then undertakes studies bypassing the legal procedures," the Auditor General added.
Michaelides accused the Municipality of Paralimni of not answering questions from the Audit Service because the complaints it had received were anonymous. In essence, Michaelides said, "the Municipality is telling us if you don't give me the name of the complainants, I won't answer you."
He also criticised the Municipality's handling of an embezzlement case involving a total of €110.000 from an official-collector of the municipality, with the municipality limiting itself to collecting the money without proceeding to prosecute the official, who was fired.
"Someone embezzled money and with the pew (the municipality) denounced him and told the police, he put the money back we have no complaints," the Auditor General added."
Pyrillis: "A people's court was set up"
In response, Pyrillis said that "when you hear all the things that have been said you wonder whether you should sit in the chair or consider yourself to be the most corrupt person in the country and go next door and enter the Central Prison on your own."
If all these rumours are true, he added, "I should go to jail". He also said that after the report was made public, "a people's court was set up."
Regarding the embezzlement issue, Pyrillis said that a "special handling" of the matter had to be done in order for the municipality to recover the amount that had been embezzled, but also to protect 3 data.000 accounts that had been affected.
"This was my disagreement with Odysseus Michaelides and I told him that there was no way he would not be prosecuted. But my duty was for the City to recover the money and subsequently it would be given to the Police. It was given to the Police, all the testimonies were given and the man left the Municipality was fired, so for us the matter took the legal process and the Municipality had no problem," he said."
Power of Attorney to the Auditor General to audit him
At the same time, Mr. Pyrillis said that he and his wife gave a power of attorney to the Auditor General authorising him to make an investigation of him both in the Land Registry and in banks in Cyprus or abroad or to make an investigation of companies to check whether he is or will become a shareholder. He added that the authorization is also valid for a period of five years after he leaves the position of Mayor.
"I am squeaky clean I am not afraid of anything, everything is in accordance with the law and I invite the Auditor General to use the authorization and audit me," he added.
He also said that after the publication of the report, in a letter to the Attorney General on September 29, 2021, he asked for information on how many cases were investigated against him.
According to him, the Attorney General replied that two cases were investigated, in the first of which it was decided not to prosecute because the Municipality had received legal advice and in the second, which concerned abuse of power, it was found that he had nothing to do with the complaints, according to Pyrilli.
"The Auditor General in too many cases was referred to the Attorney General because I was questioned too many times by the Police, but he does not mention what the outcome was," he added.
In relation to the non-profit company, TEVEA, Pyrillis said that the idea to create this non-profit company was initiated by all the mayors of the province and it operates as a chamber of commerce. "We didn't give a single cent commission, in our records there is nothing in the Auditor General's report, he got the information from the Municipality of Ayia Napa," he said.
Taking the floor again, the Auditor General said that he has not heard "anything that indicates that even one iota of our report is incorrect."
"If some people are offended that we wrote something doesn't mean it is wrong," he added. Michaelides, noting that in the TEBA, Mr. Pyrillis signs his name as "Mayor - businessman."
In statements after the session, DISY MP, Savvia Orphanidou, said that it appears that the complaints have been thoroughly investigated by the Police and the Legal Service and there is no evidence and no accusation against the Mayor of Paralimni.
He noted that the report re-established the long-standing weaknesses that have existed and continue to exist in local government and that is why we proceeded with the reform of local government.
For her part, AKEL MP Irene Charalambidou criticised the Municipality's failure to answer the Audit Service's questions from anonymous complaints, especially after Parliament enacted legislation to protect whistleblowers.
He said the Mayor provided some information but did not respond on the merits. "And there remain the Comptroller General's complaints, which to me are pending as questions since if the Mayor disputes the records of the Auditor General's Office in relation to his intention to develop the area involving a parcel of land he had purchased let him come out and contradict him paragraph by paragraph."
Source: CNA
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