The company CYPRA LTD seems to have known in advance all the actions taken by the Kofinou slaughterhouse to save it together with the state and submitted objections in advance to the European Commission, as the former mayor told the CYPRA slaughterhouse investigation committee. Larnaca and former Chairman of the Board of the Kofinou slaughterhouse Andreas Moiseos.
Mr. Moiseos, who submitted to the Research Committee on Friday, was a member from 2002 to 2006 and from 2006 to 2011 Chairman of the Board of the Kofinos Slaughterhouse.
As Mr. Moiseos told the Research Committee, during his presidency they tried to promote a rescue plan for the Kofinos slaughterhouse through the European Union. He noted that “in all the actions we took we were one step behind the tensions caused by the company CYPRA”, which objected to the European Commission stating that the actions of the Kofinou slaughterhouse were illegal and constituted state aid.
He noted that from the interventions at the CYPRA slaughterhouse it seemed that they were aware before them of what was happening on the part of the state and the slaughterhouse and they constantly put up obstacles. Even before the proposal to the EU to save the slaughterhouse was completed, he said, he had received a letter from CYPRA that such a thing was illegal.
He also said that the slaughterhouse was regularly inspected by the EU and always submitted new conditions, while the constant requests from the staff and the strikes, further complicated their work.
He also noted that they suggested traders slaughter a little more than their cost in order to keep them as customers, as other slaughterhouses that could have cheaper staff had cheaper fees. He added that they also suggested to their biggest client, who were the Andreou Brothers, to enter the slaughterhouse as shareholders in order to be rescued, but they answered in the negative since they could not ensure the smooth operation of the slaughterhouse.
Regarding the debts of the Kofinos slaughterhouse to veterinary fees, Mr. Moiseos said that there was always strong pressure to pay them, but because it was impossible to repay them immediately, contacts were made even at the level of the President of the Republic to make a settlement. In this context, as he said, it was requested not to demand the payment of the fees immediately and it was agreed not to put pressure on their repayment.
As for the debts of the Kofinou slaughterhouse, he said that they had accumulated since they started operating in 1981 mainly due to the increased staff working in it, who were also civil servants, in contrast to other slaughterhouses that found cheaper labor.
Asked about the financial statements of the Kofinos Slaughterhouse, he said that they were prepared by the accounting department and sent to the Board of Directors, while there was a competent service of the Ministry of Interior that received the statements. He also stated that the statements were also controlled by the Auditor General.
Asked about the leaks and where they came from, he said it was clear that the leaks came from people in the public service who had access to this information, such as senior Home Office officials, while the Council was always told that the owner of CYPRA had as a source his wife. At the same time, he mentioned that the municipalities could also have information about the financial statements in the Kofinou Slaughterhouse, so a very large number of people knew about them.
Answering other questions about the licenses of the Kofinos slaughterhouse, he said that while everything had started correctly, then some operations were carried out for which licenses may not have been secured in time, however, as Mr. Moses mentioned, the quality of the slaughterhouse services was always very good.
He also confirmed the large debts of the Kofinou slaughterhouse and the decision to sell a piece of land that belonged to him to the Union of Municipalities in 2007, in order to repay some debts.
Asked about a lawsuit against the Kofinou Slaughterhouse by the company CYPRA for lost profits, he said that this was another way of putting pressure on the Kofinou Slaughterhouse and the Government.
Source: KYPE
Irini Charalambidou / Deposit: The State granted to “Cypra” κο interest-free loan of one million euros
Perdikis: The government's tolerance towards the Cypra company is in a row
Research Committee: This is how they turned their backs on Mr. Cyprus
