Cyprus-Forum.com

[fanourıo]

"Lillikas is a liar"
By Fanos Droushiotis
Cyprus Times has published that Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister George Lillikas has lied last week when he departed for Lebanon in order to sign an Oil Agreement with his Lebanese counterpart, by saying he was just carrying 100, 000 Cyprus Pounds in aid of the war victims of the neighbouring country. As a matter of fact that money was transferred to a company named International Investment World Co. Inc. based in Zurich Switzerland, managed by Mr Panagiotis Papadakis who personally dealt with Greek Cypriot Ministers black commission money in the past.
Lillikas arrived back in Cyprus boasting that the Turkish and Turkish Cypriot Diplomacy was caught in the sleep since he managed to strike a deal with Lebanon before they could both react. Of course the Lebanese Government, knowing nothing of the sort, never issued a “Thank You” letter to back the act. Lillikas just managed 100,000 CYP as an initial commission from the Lebanese Oil Company but that amount is just 20% of the total amount of 1 Million Dollars the Lebanese paid to Tassos Papadopoullos himself if they were to be preffered in the Cyprus Oil Venture. It takes just about 5 minutes of Internet surfing to locate www.papadopoullos.com and the functions of the Greek Cypriot leader’s Law Firm in the South and www.papbank.com to see what the Greek gentleman is doing in Switzerland!
Now it seems that Lillikas not only lied currently as a Foreign Minister but he had been lying in the past as Minister of Trade of the Greek Cypriot Administration.
It might have been argued that just because Cyprus Times is issued in the TRNC we just try to find somehting faulty about the Greek Cypriot Adminisration.
But I qote from the Cyprus Mail:
Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister George Lillikas yesterday left the media with the impression that former Greek Cypriot Commerce Minister Nicos Rolandis had signed away the island’s oil and gas wealth in a secret deal with the Bush family.
Lillikas also accused Rolandis outright of failing to consult either the cabinet or the Attorney-general about a Memorandum of Understanding signed with American company Crest in the late nineties. Neil Bush, the younger brother of US President George Bush, was the co-chairman of Crest at the time.
Rolandis described the accusations as a “complete lie”.
Lillikas, who made the statements at Larnaca airport on his departure for Malta, said that when he succeeded Rolandis as Commerce Minister in 2003, the first thing he did was cancel the deal to “safeguard the interests of Cyprus”.
News organisations ran with the story that Lillikas had revealed how he saved Cyprus from the Bush family’s exploitation of the island’s natural wealth without clarifying that the comment related to an entirely different issue.
The Rolandis-Crest MoU had nothing to do with oil and gas exploration off the island’s coast and everything to do with the importation of natural gas by pipeline from Syria.
In addition, Rolandis told the Cyprus Mail not only was the MoU not legally binding, but also that it would never have gone ahead. “The final advice was that Cyprus should not use a pipeline to transport natural gas but should instead import Liquid Natural Gas (LNG),” he said.
In a statement issued earlier in the day the former minister produced the dates and reference numbers of all of the cabinet decisions and approval documents from the state’s legal services to disprove Lillikas’ allegations that he made a secret deal on his own with the Bush family.
“The approval of the Attorney-general’s office was essential in order not to create a legal minefield. The MoU did not constitute a legal engagement, so there was nothing for Mr Lillikas to cancel,” said Rolandis in his statement.
“In no instance did we once cede the sovereignty or other rights of the Cyprus Republic. And if Mr Lillikas believes that picking a fight with the Americans serves the interests of Cyprus, he is sadly mistaken.”
It appears that Lillikas made his statements in response to a question from a journalist at the airport asking him to respond to recent comments by Rolandis relating to the row with Turkey over offshore exploration rights.
Lillikas jumped straight into the pipeline issue.
"One of the first actions I took was to cancel the Memorandum of Understanding that Mr Rolandis had himself signed without the approval of the cabinet, granting huge rights without competition and without authorisation. I did this to safeguard the interests of Cyprus,” said Lillikas.
Rolandis said it had been clear to him what Lillikas was referring to but said it was understandable that others not familiar with the pipeline case might confuse the two issues. “They are not connected,” he said.
Asked why he thought Lillikas had launched an attack seemingly out of the blue, and especially to cite accusations that could easily be disproved, Rolandis said: “Mr Lillikas is always unpredictable. Maybe he got up on the wrong side. I am puzzled and stunned but sometimes when people say something, there is the hope that some of it may stick.”

The former minister said it probably had something to do with recent articles he had written about the proposed oil and gas and his suggestions for how the wealth could be shared with the Turkish Cypriots.” UNQUOTE
The conclusions are all yours.

[THE HIGHLANDER]

I think i'll go to bed now after reading this (not)!!!!
Wakey,wakey........Good morning everyone its Timi Market day whoopee........6.30am start for me no rest for the wicked eh !!!