DISY leader names business duo in LNG scandal
By Elias Hazou
THE FALLOUT continued yesterday from the “scandal of the century” allegations made by opposition leader Nicos Anastassiades, with the mutual recriminations turning nasty.
During a news conference earlier this week, the DISY chief produced a cornucopia of documents which he claimed proved “200 per cent” that corruption lay behind plans for a temporary Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) floating unit.
He charged that the government deliberately delayed the construction of a land-based facility so as to later claim that time was running out and present the offshore unit as the only viable alternative.
Anastassiades questioned how, under a shareholders’ agreement with foreign multinational SBM, the shares of Vasilikos – the Cypriot company tendering for the project – would skyrocket from £1 to £12,500, earning its remaining shareholders some £5 million.
Anastassiades asked how it was possible for a company that was not investing any capital or providing technical know-how to get so much money from its nominal share value, unless the purpose was purely to use political influence to promote an offshore unit and get said company to build it.
He stopped short of naming the two political figures allegedly behind Apollo, SBM’s partner in the joint venture.
Under the deal, Apollo would be in charge of marketing and commercial operations, which Anastassiades said translated into backhanders.
The names of Apollo’s nominee shareholders have since been revealed. They have been identified as businessmen Andreas and Alekos Nicolaou. Amid the hubbub of the past few days, the brothers released an announcement, saying that Apollo NG was a “family business and that no other person has any interest in it, directly or indirectly.”
They also added that placing a company in the trust of a law office (initially Tassos Papadopoulos & Co) was “a perfectly legitimate practice”.
“We wield no political influence… as we have been wrongly accused of doing,” the announcement concluded.
Following the revelation of the two names, it emerged that European Party leader Demetris Syllouris was the godfather to Alekos Nicolaou’s son. This supposedly lent credence to Anastassiades’ claim that politicians were behind Apollo.
Moving fast to quash these insinuations, Syllouris launched a vicious attack on Anasstasiades during a live news show on CyBC, saying his relation with Nicolaou “means nothing”.
Syllouris also reminded Anastassiades that, years ago, the latter’s brother was implicated in a visa scam and arrested, wondering whether the DISY leader was the most suited to speak of scandals.
He also mentioned that Anasstasiades had profited from a private placement, made under an alias, during the stock exchange bubble.
Yesterday, the DISY boss continued defying calls to disclose the names of those who were allegedly behind the LNG deal, saying it was up to the authorities to get to the bottom of the affair.
Anastassiades’ reluctance to name names has left him open to accusations of digging up dirt without concrete evidence.
At another news conference yesterday, Anastassiades produced more data which he said reinforced his corruption theory.
He said that on August 31, 2006, SBM addressed a letter to Commerce Minister Antonis Michaelides, complaining that the Electricity Authority of Cyprus was “biased” in favour of the onshore facility.
On October 2, 2006, a meeting was held at the Presidential Palace between Papadopoulos and EAC delegates. Papadopoulos apparently told the EAC delegates he was “unconvinced” about the land-based option, informing them that “from now on” the Commerce Ministry would handle the matter.
A day later, October 3, the head of the governmental Energy Department was “instructed” to send a letter to SBM, in which he informed the multinational that they were wrongly accusing him of opposing the floating unit solution.
“This raises a simple question,” said Anastassiades. “Is it possible that two relatively unknown businessmen [Andreas and Alecos Nicolaou] managed, in record time, to bring about a meeting at the Presidential Palace?”
Countering Anastassiades’ allegations, deputies from pro-government parties point out that the DISY leader has not explained the corruption, given that the government was giving out negative signs to SBM.
“Where are the kickbacks, when the government was saying ‘no’ to SBM?” mused European Party deputy Ricos Erotocritou.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2007
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