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Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 99-09-25

Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cynews.com/>


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Saturday, September 25, 1999

CONTENTS

  • [01] Big Five call on Annan to issue talks invitationBy Jean ChristouTHE FIVE permanent members of the UN Security Council have again called on the Secretary-general to invite the two sides in Cyprus to talks.In a statement issued after a meeting with Secretary-general Kofi Annan in New York on Thursday, the foreign ministers of the 'Big Five', Britain, the US, China, France and Russia said the status quo in Cyprus was unacceptable and had gone unresolved for too long.The Five also called on the leaders of the two communities to give their support to full and comprehensive negotiations on the following principles: no preconditions, all issues on the table, commitment in good faith to negotiate until a settlement is reached, and full consideration of UN resolutions and treaties.They also reminded the two sides of their earlier request for the two leaders to work with the Secretary-general to create a positive climate which would pave the way for negotiations this Autumn.Annan is expected to decide within 10 days whether or not to issue an invitation to talks to the two sides.The Turkish Cypriot side says it will only attend talks if they are held between "two states", while the Greek Cypriot side is willing to attend talks without preconditions.Government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou, who is in New York with President Clerides, has welcomed the statement by the foreign ministers of the Big Five. "It is a statement which moves in the right direction," he said. "I have the impression that we are closer to the invitation of the Secretary-general for talks."But according to a Reuters report from New York, diplomatic sources said the invitation to talks would have to be couched in neutral terms that would avoid diplomatic pitfalls over such matters as the two sides' respective titles.A senior US official said that US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had pressed Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem to embrace the call to talks and warned him that the issue would be raised again when Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit meets President Bill Clinton next Tuesday.Albright found President Clerides to be "very open and very willing to consider the beginning of some kind of negotiations," the US official said.She told all the Cyprus players: "We'd like negotiations to begin, we'd like them to begin without preconditions, soon, now."However Albright's words appeared to have made little impression on Cem.In his speech to the General Assembly on Thursday, Cem praised the new understanding between Turkey and Greece following recent earthquakes in both countries.But when it came to Cyprus, he repeated the Turkish side's preconditions for talks. "These two states should be able to solve their differences through their own free will," he said.He said steps could be taken to improve the atmosphere between the two sides by lifting the "unjust embargo" imposed by Cyprus on the Turkish Cypriots."On our part we believe that the confederation proposal provides the basis for a realistic and viable settlement in Cyprus," Cem said.Former American presidential envoy Richard Holbrooke, now US ambassador to the UN, who has declared his intention to stay "heavily involved" in the Cyprus issue, said Clinton's meeting with Ecevit was important."We will see where things go from here," he said after meeting President Clerides.In Nicosia yesterday, British High Commissioner Edward Clay said no preconditions should be set for the start of the talks.Commenting on Cem's statements, he said: "There are obviously some rocks on the road but it is for all of us to make an effort to find the basis on which those negotiations can take place and remember that the Security Council and the Group of Eight called for negotiations without preconditions."
  • [02] Shipping Department to target repeat offenders
  • [03] Markides says pardon likely for jailed mothers
  • [04] Mobile phone numbers will remain a mystery
  • [05] Children find suspected murder weapon
  • [06] Nicosia to name street after Kranidiotis
  • [07] Aris pleads with Phileleftherosfor Heroes Square property
  • [08] One-man swim completed as relay after tendonitis sets in
  • [09] EAC unveils hi-tech 'energy centre'
  • [10] Louis shares: civil servants ‘corruption’ investigation
  • [11] Stock Exchange to stay shut for another week
  • [12] Aquarium bids to save seal

  • [01] Big Five call on Annan to issue talks invitationBy Jean ChristouTHE FIVE permanent members of the UN Security Council have again called on the Secretary-general to invite the two sides in Cyprus to talks.In a statement issued after a meeting with Secretary-general Kofi Annan in New York on Thursday, the foreign ministers of the 'Big Five', Britain, the US, China, France and Russia said the status quo in Cyprus was unacceptable and had gone unresolved for too long.The Five also called on the leaders of the two communities to give their support to full and comprehensive negotiations on the following principles: no preconditions, all issues on the table, commitment in good faith to negotiate until a settlement is reached, and full consideration of UN resolutions and treaties.They also reminded the two sides of their earlier request for the two leaders to work with the Secretary-general to create a positive climate which would pave the way for negotiations this Autumn.Annan is expected to decide within 10 days whether or not to issue an invitation to talks to the two sides.The Turkish Cypriot side says it will only attend talks if they are held between "two states", while the Greek Cypriot side is willing to attend talks without preconditions.Government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou, who is in New York with President Clerides, has welcomed the statement by the foreign ministers of the Big Five. "It is a statement which moves in the right direction," he said. "I have the impression that we are closer to the invitation of the Secretary-general for talks."But according to a Reuters report from New York, diplomatic sources said the invitation to talks would have to be couched in neutral terms that would avoid diplomatic pitfalls over such matters as the two sides' respective titles.A senior US official said that US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had pressed Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem to embrace the call to talks and warned him that the issue would be raised again when Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit meets President Bill Clinton next Tuesday.Albright found President Clerides to be "very open and very willing to consider the beginning of some kind of negotiations," the US official said.She told all the Cyprus players: "We'd like negotiations to begin, we'd like them to begin without preconditions, soon, now."However Albright's words appeared to have made little impression on Cem.In his speech to the General Assembly on Thursday, Cem praised the new understanding between Turkey and Greece following recent earthquakes in both countries.But when it came to Cyprus, he repeated the Turkish side's preconditions for talks. "These two states should be able to solve their differences through their own free will," he said.He said steps could be taken to improve the atmosphere between the two sides by lifting the "unjust embargo" imposed by Cyprus on the Turkish Cypriots."On our part we believe that the confederation proposal provides the basis for a realistic and viable settlement in Cyprus," Cem said.Former American presidential envoy Richard Holbrooke, now US ambassador to the UN, who has declared his intention to stay "heavily involved" in the Cyprus issue, said Clinton's meeting with Ecevit was important."We will see where things go from here," he said after meeting President Clerides.In Nicosia yesterday, British High Commissioner Edward Clay said no preconditions should be set for the start of the talks.Commenting on Cem's statements, he said: "There are obviously some rocks on the road but it is for all of us to make an effort to find the basis on which those negotiations can take place and remember that the Security Council and the Group of Eight called for negotiations without preconditions."

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    Saturday, September 25, 1999

    [02] Shipping Department to target repeat offenders

    By Jean Christou

    THE MERCHANT Shipping Department is to alter its system of fines for deficient vessels to clamp down on the detention of Cypriot-flagged ships.

    Senior surveyor Captain Andreas Constantinou said yesterday the new measure was part of the government's pledge to clean up the flag's image abroad.

    Under the new measure, fines already imposed on shipowners whose vessels are found with deficiencies will be increased for each subsequent offence.

    He said the current detention rate for Cypriot ships was four per cent above the average stipulated by the Paris Memorandum of 14 per cent.

    "We want to drop below this average," Constantinou told the Cyprus Mail.

    He said the current situation was something of a vicious circle. Because the flag's detention rate is above the average, it is specifically targeted by foreign port controls, and the detention rate remains above average. Unless strong measures are taken to reduce the number of deficient ships, Cyprus will be unable to drop below the average.

    Constantinou said the vast majority of the detentions concerned minor infractions, which took just a few hours or a day to put right. Less than one per cent were serious, he said, and many captains did not even report a minor detention to owners if the ship was not delayed.

    However, the fact that all detentions goes on record without any differentiation means the flag state ends up with a bad reputation.

    The Shipping Department hopes the new threat of steeper fines for repeat offenders will shake up ship owners into taking care of minor deficiencies, which could lead to detention.

    The government wants the shipowners to be made aware that a minor detention not only blackens the name of the company itself but also the name of the flag state.

    "The government is doing a lot (to clean up Cyprus' image)," said Constantinou. "However, we have to look into every corner and see how things can be improved."

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    Saturday, September 25, 1999

    [03] Markides says pardon likely for jailed mothers

    ATTORNEY-general Alecos Markides yesterday promised a sympathetic hearing to any pardon appeals from two mothers imprisoned for non-payment of debts.

    Markides was responding to reports that a mother of four and a mother of five were behind bars for debts of £1,553 and £2,194 respectively.

    Phileleftheros

    reported that the director of the Nicosia central prison, George Anastassiades, had prepared a letter to Markides asking for the two mothers to be pardoned on compassionate grounds.

    The Attorney-general said yesterday that he had not received any request for the two prisoners to be granted an early release. But if such a plea were made, the state would be positively disposed towards it, he said.

    "We view such cases with great understanding, and in a case where and application for pardon is submitted we consider it favourably," he said.

    Debtors are often granted a stay of execution of six to nine months to give them time to try and pay back some money. Extension of this temporary pardon was dependant on how much money was repaid to creditors during this grace period, Markides said.

    Phileleftheros

    also reported that a pregnant woman had been imprisoned for a debt of just £600. Markides said the woman in question had been granted a pardon and released on Monday. She had, in fact, been incarcerated for non-payment of debts amounting to £9,000.

    Legislative amendments lifting the threat of prison sentences for non- payment of dues are in the pipeline, and Markides said he believed debtors should never end up behind bars.

    "My position is that imprisonment for debts should be avoided. Where someone goes to jail (for debts) and after a few days he has paid nothing back, it is obvious there is no point in continuing the incarceration," Markides said. A debtor behind bars was denied the chance to earn money to repay his creditors, he explained.

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    Saturday, September 25, 1999

    [04] Mobile phone numbers will remain a mystery

    By Martin Hellicar

    THE PHONE numbers of persons who rang a mobile abandoned by three hit-men at the scene of a gangland murder must remain a mystery, the Nicosia Assizes court decided yesterday.

    The prosecution in the Hambis Aeroporos murder trial wanted the numbers, stored in the memory of the mobile phone, to be read out in court. State prosecutor Petros Clerides wanted to prove some of the five accused had contacted each other in the run-up to the December 16 killing in Limassol.

    But the three-judge bench yesterday upheld an objection by lawyer George Georgiou -- defending cabaret owner Sotiris Athinis, 43, and his 51-year- old sister Zoe Alexandrou.

    Hospital cleaner Alexandrou has admitted the phone -- found in the car abandoned at the scene by the hooded gunmen -- belongs to her, but both she and her brother deny conspiring to kill 36-year-old Hambis.

    Georgiou argued that information stored in the phone was protected by privacy laws and was therefore inadmissible as evidence. He also said the prosecution had failed to show that the phone had been used systematically or was in proper working order at the crucial time.

    The defence objection forced the hearing into its fourth side-trial, Clerides arguing that privacy laws did not apply to situations where any form of confidential communication was "abandoned" to public view. From the moment the phone was left in the car at the murder scene it was no longer covered by privacy laws, he put it to the judges.

    The prosecutor also said he had produced expert witnesses to show that both the phone and the phone system had been in good working order last December.

    But Georgiou was the 'winner' when the court announced its verdict on the "trial-within-a-trial" yesterday.

    One of the three accused hit-men, waiter Prokopis Prokopiou, 35, has switched his plea to guilty and is to be sentenced at a later date.

    Policeman Christos Symianos, 35, and special constable Savvas Ioannou, alias Kinezos, 33, have pleaded not guilty to gunning down Aeroporos. Prokopiou has told the court Symianos and Kinezos had nothing to do with the deadly attack.

    Three hooded hit-men mowed Hambis down in broad daylight as he drove home from the Limassol hospital where he was receiving routine treatment for wounds suffered during an earlier suspected gangland hit, in June 1995.

    Hambis' murder is thought to be part of an ongoing turf war between rival underworld gangs vying for control of the cabaret circuit -- suspected as a front for gambling, prostitution and drugs rackets.

    The bloody feud shows no sign of letting up. Twelve days ago, trial suspect Athinis, who is free on bail, was lucky to survive an anti-tank missile attack outside his Limassol cabaret. Four men are being held in connection with the attack.

    The Hambis murder trial, which has been on-going for three months now, continues on Tuesday.

    The trial was moved to Nicosia for fear of reprisals against the suspects and armed police are out in force for every hearing.

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    Saturday, September 25, 1999

    [05] Children find suspected murder weapon

    PLAYING children have found a pistol believed to have been used to kill Savvas Savva outside a Nicosia night spot earlier this month.

    Police yesterday confirmed that three children between the ages of eight and 10 had found a Browning pistol while playing on the river bed behind the Yiorkeio hotel on Thursday night.

    A masked gunman shot and killed 20-year-old Savva from bushes on the hotel grounds opposite the Concerto night-club that the victim was leaving at the time of the attack.

    Police are carrying out tests to determine if the pistol is the weapon used to kill Savva.

    They were unable to confirm reports that one of the children had accidentally kicked the weapon, making it go off.

    Only one man has so far been arrested in connection with the murder, and he was released without charge after his alibi was verified.

    Savva, from Strovolos, was repeatedly shot by a masked assailant on Friday September 3, in what police described as a well-planned hit.

    He succumbed to his injuries 10 days later.

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    Saturday, September 25, 1999

    [06] Nicosia to name street after Kranidiotis

    A STREET in Nicosia is to be named after former Greek deputy Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis, who lost his life in a tragic air accident over Rumania on September 14.

    Nicosia municipality yesterday announced they planned to honour the memory of one of the town's most famous 'sons' by re-naming after him the street on which his family home stands. A commemorative plaque will also be put up on the home. Kranidiotis is of Cypriot descent.

    To mark the passage of forty days from the tragic death, the municipality wants to arrange a commemorative service in Nicosia's Trypiotis church on October 23. Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou is to be invited to attend a special Kranidiotis memorial at Famagusta Gate later the same day.

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    Saturday, September 25, 1999

    [07] Aris pleads with Phileleftherosfor Heroes Square property

    By Jean Christou

    LIMASSOL football club Aris said yesterday it would plead with top-selling newspaper Phileleftherosto give up its lease on a Turkish Cypriot property in the town's Heroes Square.

    Aris vice chairman Cleanthis Papadopoulos said yesterday the club would like to lease the building as its new headquarters.

    He said representatives of the club had met yesterday with Limassol Mayor Demetris Kontides in the hope that something could be done.

    "We will try to arrange a meeting with Phileleftherosto discuss the matter," Papadopoulos said. "We are hoping they can find somewhere else, but we don't want to fight with them".

    Papadopoulos said the club was having to move out of its present building where it had been housed for 20 years because the property owners wanted to develop it.

    He said someone had mentioned the Turkish Cypriot building on Heroes Square, and the club had decided to enquire about it since it was aware the Municipality was trying to 'clean up' the area.

    "We thought this would be a good opportunity if we could move there," Papadopoulos said.

    However, when the club went to make enquiries, they were told the property had been leased to Phileleftheros.

    Charalambos Georgiades, the director of the service for the protection of Turkish Cypriot properties, said everything had bene done legally in the leasing of the land to the newspaper.

    He said normally priority for Turkish Cypriot property was given to refugees. "But when no one else is interested they can go to non-refugees," he said.

    He said the property in question had been leased to Phileleftheroson December 1, 1998. "No one else was interested at the time," Georgiades said.

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    Saturday, September 25, 1999

    [08] One-man swim completed as relay after tendonitis sets in

    By Athena Karsera

    A COURAGEOUS member of the British Forces yesterday completed his fund- raising swim from Akrotiri to Dhekelia, but in the end needed help from the crew of the boat accompanying him.

    In an effort to raise money for the Cyprus Marine Environment Protection Association (Cymepa), Ted Martin ended his journey on schedule at approximately 5pm.

    Cymepa secretary-general Dr Michael Ierides yesterday told the Cyprus Mailthe one-man swim had turned into a relay when Martin developed tendonitis after 10 and a half hours in the water: "He completed more than half of the journey, (crew member) Dr Kevin Beaton about a third, and the rest of the team the remainder."

    The crew work for the British Bases and included one Cypriot.

    Ierides said that although the journey had started out as a marathon, it ended as a proper relay, "With each person touching hands with the other before taking over the swim."

    Martin began the 36-hour, 80 kilometre, swim at 7am on Thursday.

    The British soldier, who has Cypriot roots, is head of the Dhekelia base's Adventure Training course, and the event took place to help collect funds to set up a Cymepa web site.

    Ierides said yesterday Cymepa was extremely happy with the event, calling it "a courageous effort".

    He said it had generated a lot of interest both in the local media and with international news agencies, "There were photos in all the papers today (Friday) and overseas news agencies were posting photos on the Internet."

    Martin, whose wife July also lives in Cyprus, has strong ties to the island. His sister Evi Yiallouri lives in Nicosia while his grandparents live in Limassol.

    Cymepa is a charitable institution established in 1992.

    Its goal is to protect Cyprus' marine environment through training and informing the public.

    Cymepa hopes the website will help them reach more people.

    Donations can be made through the Bank of Cyprus at account number 0330-01- 085501, the Popular Bank at 020-21-073025 and through the Hellenic Bank at 241-01-183339-01.

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    Saturday, September 25, 1999

    [09] EAC unveils hi-tech 'energy centre'

    THE ELECTRICITY Authority (EAC) yesterday opened a unique 'Energy Centre', which aims to finding effective ways to preserve power.

    According to an EAC announcement, the Energy Centre consists of data collecting machinery, which will provide the authority with crucial information on its grid.

    The announcement said the system, named SCADA/EMS, was also able to collect information from the automatic telephone network.

    The £5 million project operates from stations in each district, making it easier for the machinery to continue functioning during power cuts in any particular area.

    The EAC says that by monitoring electricity use the Energy Centre will provide important information on ways to cut costs, better employ manpower, make the entire system more effective, and generally improve the quality of service to customers.

    The system is expected to save the EAC the equivalent of its cost over the next 10 years.

    The system also provides information that would give warning of imminent power cuts, giving the EAC time to attempt to solve the problem before it begins.

    [10] Louis shares: civil servants ‘corruption’ investigation

    By Hamza Hendawi

    Business Editor

    ATTORNEY-general Alecos Markides moved the legal probe of the "Louis Affair" into top gear yesterday, ordering police to start a criminal investigation of government employees in connection with corruption allegations arising from the acquisition of private placement shares in Louis Cruise Lines.

    Speaking before the House Watchdog Committee, Markides said he had written to Police Chief Andreas Angelides yesterday asking him to start questioning unnamed officials at two ministries -- Commerce and Industry and Communications and Works – following evidence he had received in a letter from the Auditor-general.

    The letter, said Markides, dealt with "pending issues" on contracts between the Louis Group and the Ministry of Communications and "an unfinished contract" between Louis and the Ministry of Commerce. He did not elaborate.

    The investigation would cover present and past employees of the two ministries who had dealt with the Louis Group, and would seek to establish whether those dealings had been facilitated in exchange for private placement shares in Louis Cruise Lines, a group company which went public last month.

    The investigation will be guided by relevant laws on corruption and carried out in total confidentiality, said the attorney-general. "There will be no leaks and no name of a public figure publicised before the investigation is completed."

    In a statement issued late yesterday, Louis said that there had been nothing dubious about their Stock Exchange dealings. The company said it would be at the investigators' disposal and said it had never awarded shares in exchange for services.

    Vassos Pyrgos, Director of the Communications Ministry, whose name appeared on the list of Louis private placement beneficiaries, was last night reported by the government to have taken indefinite leave pending the outcome of the investigation. The decision was made by Pyrgos himself as soon as he heard of the police probe.

    Officials from the attorney-general's office, Markides revealed, had already visited the offices of Laiki Investments, a fully-owned subsidiary of the Popular Bank Group which took Louis Cruise Lines public, to obtain all names on the company's private placement list.

    Commerce and Industry Minister Nicos Rolandis, meanwhile, said that the Louis affair would be tabled for discussion at a Cabinet meeting on October 6 and that he had written to 22 departments and semi-official organisations belonging to his ministry seeking information on dealings with Louis. He plans to submit the information to Markides' office next Tuesday.

    The attorney-general's remarks before the Watchdog Committee yesterday represent a major development in the Louis Affair and its legal aspects. Markides told a news conference on Monday that he had no evidence to suggest that the law had been broken when several top civil servants and public figures, including the Governor of the Central Bank, were found to have acquired shares in the Louis private placement. Markides insisted that his office's terms of reference did not allow him to rule on questions of political and social ethics.

    Markides hardened his position slightly the next day, saying the Louis Affair had shaken the trust of the public in the government and that a breach of political ethics may have occurred when civil servants acquired LCL shares through private placement.

    Beside Pyrgos and Central Bank Governor Afxentis Afxentiou, public figures who obtained shares in the private placement include former Communications Minister Lentios Ierodiaconou, Akel deputy Takis Hadjigeorgiou, Chairman of the Cyprus Tourism Organisation Andreas Erotokritou, Director of the Finance Ministry's Planning Bureau Panicos Pouros, and Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Commerce Michael Erotokritos.

    The ruling Disy party, the opposition Diko party of House Speaker Spyros Kyprianou, the Dias media group which publishes Simerininewspaper and owns Sigmatelevision and the English-

    language weekly newspaper Financial Mirror are also among the beneficiaries, some of whom chose to speak in public, arguing that they had done nothing wrong and had broken no laws.

    Louis, for its part, has maintained that it was not expecting anything in return for its generosity, but the controversy refuses to die and is raising serious questions about relations between government and big businesses.

    President Glafcos Clerides has reacted swiftly to revelations about the Louis beneficiaries, decreeing that any Cabinet minister found in the future to have acquired private placement shares in public companies would be sacked.

    Doros Theodorou, a Socialist Edek deputy and a Watchdog Committee member, said yesterday that Markides should launch his own investigation and suggested that civil servants may have in the past benefited from private placements. "No one can show what went on with other companies that obtained a listing on the Cyprus Stock Exchange," he said. "Light has to be shown on every case."

    Also speaking yesterday, Ombudsman Eliana Nicolaou called for a change in laws governing the funding of political parties, arguing that applying the English system under which MPs declare their interests would be useful in Cyprus.

    Shares in Louis Cruise Lines were sold at 40 cents apiece in both the Initial Public Offering, which was oversubscribed more than 50 times, and the private placement. The share price soared to more than £3 on the day it made its market debut, but fell sharply afterwards when it was revealed that two of the company's top executives, including its managing director, dumped tens of thousands of Louis shares and warrants on the market on the first day of trade. Louis said it had prior knowledge of their intentions.

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    Saturday, September 25, 1999

    [11] Stock Exchange to stay shut for another week

    By Hamza Hendawi,

    Business Editor

    THE Cyprus Stock Exchange, citing a persistent backlog of administrative work at brokerages, decided yesterday to extend by a week its three-week closure.

    A statement from the exchange said the market would now re-open on October 4 and warned that penalties would from that date be applied against offending brokerages, depending on what it called "the severity of their problems".

    It said the exchange was still awaiting the submission by brokers of about 5,000 documents, and that many more, containing errors and discrepancies, had been sent back to brokerages for correction and resubmission.

    The market, whose gains so far this year stand at over 360 per cent, was closed on September 3 after brokers warned it could collapse if a backlog of more than 60,000 transactions was not cleared.

    The latest closure was the third since late July, when the market closed its doors for two days in the hope that the backlog would be cleared. A week-long closure in August also failed to dent the mountain of unprocessed deals.

    Yesterday's statement said the delays in issuing share titles could have meant that thousands of investors would not have been able to sell their shares if the market was to re-open on Monday, October 27.

    The decision to close the market for a fourth successive week came as no surprise as brokers, Stock Exchange officials and Commerce Minister Nicos Rolandis have spoken over the past few days of persistent delays in processing transactions.

    Speaking before the exchange decision became known, one broker told the Cyprus Mailthat for the market to remain closed until the backlog problem had been solved was better than re-

    opening and closing it yet again.

    The market, opened in March 1996, has been groaning under the weight of a dramatic increase in transactions since early summer. A fully automated trading system introduced in May meant that the daily average of transactions soared from 500 to 4,000.

    This was followed by a boom in investment resulting from relative political stability on the island, a flurry of successful new listings and a combination of good results, share splits and bonuses from the dominant banking sector. The boom attracted Cypriots from all walks of life, happy to gamble on shares they know little about but hopeful of quick and handsome returns.

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    Saturday, September 25, 1999

    [12] Aquarium bids to save seal

    Anthony O. Miller

    THE lone surviving seal at Ayia Napa Marine Park (ANMP) is dying, but it could recover if it is moved to proper surroundings, Panayiotis Hadjipetrou, manager of Ocean Aquarium in Protaras said yesterday.

    "My people saw him, and we all know he is dying," Hadjipetrou said. Those "people" included a marine biologist and a veterinarian, he said. But if Ocean Aquarium could buy the seal, its marine biologists and veterinarians could restore the animal to health, he said.

    "We have the perfect environment for him. We have the veterinary services, we have a lake. We are ready to buy him, we could do everything for him. The problem is we could not speak with any of the (Marine Park) owners," Hadjipetrou said yesterday.

    Following complaints by tourists that the seal was being starved, alone, beside a pool of filthy water, the Cyprus Mailand state veterinarians separately visited Ayia Napa Marine Park this week to see the animal. On learning of the seal's plight, Ocean Aquarium set about trying buy him from the Marine Park's owner, Kikis Constantinou.

    "(But) the seal doesn't belong just to Kikis Constantinou, he belongs to some Russian people that are coming to Cyprus, and maybe taking him with them," Hadjipetrou said. He said ANMP manager Michaelis Anastasiou pledged to speak with Constantinou on Monday about selling the ailing seal.

    Anastasiou said: "The reason the seal is sick and thin is that some people fed him from outside, they gave him bad food or something." Dr Charalambous Theodorou, the state veterinarian who examined the seal on Thursday made no comment about the animal being sick. Instead, he said, he told the Marine Park's manager to give the seal more food.

    Hadjipetrou said he would take his veterinarian and marine biologist to ANMP today "to see what kind of treatment we can give him. We will maybe change the water of his pool, ourselves, to make the environment more appropriate. We're going to arrange for feeding fish to him. We're talking with marine parks around the world to see what they suggest, we are doing our research."

    © Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999

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