Local authorities warned to act within law after nepotism complaints

All municipal and village councils must act in accordance with the general principles of the law, interior ministry permanent secretary Elikkos Elia said on Thursday, after the Polis Chrysochous municipality was accused of nepotism and unlawful procedures in its recruitment decisions.

He told the Cyprus News Agency that all elected officials, whether mayors, deputy mayors, community leaders, or council members, must respect, adhere to and act faithfully in line with the general principles of administrative law. Anything else, he said, is unacceptable.

Meanwhile, the interior ministry’s head of local governance Antonis Economides confirmed that a letter of complaint regarding the Polis Chrysochous municipality’s hiring practices had been received last month and said that the accusations were “very serious”.

He referred to statements made by Polis Chrysochous mayor Yiotis Papachristofi, who had claimed that during a council meeting focused on recruitment, he had asked members with conflicts of interest to leave, but they refused, leaving him unable to halt the proceedings.

Economides said that the three deputy mayors were required by law to leave the meeting, and because they did not meant that any decision taken in their presence should be assessed for its legality. In this case, he added, the decision was clearly illegal due to the composition of the body at the time.

He also referred to a complaint of manipulation, saying that the individuals in question had been hired on nine-month contracts, but were allowed to work for twelve, and that following an opinion from the municipality’s legal adviser, their contracts were then made permanent.

On this matter, he said that when seasonal positions are approved and advertised, the nine-month limit must be respected. If the intention had been to create permanent posts, he said, this should have been advertised from the start.

Regarding what the ministry’s next steps may be, he said that by law, the interior minister of the day, in this case Constantinos Ioannou, has the right to supervise municipal councils, including the legality of their decisions, and launch an investigation into them.

After an investigation, he said, the minister may ask a council to revoke or correct a decision, and if the council refuses, he may cancel all or part of it.

He said that at present that the ministry is currently requesting information from the Polis Chrysochous municipality, including meeting minutes and details of the procedures followed, to determine whether any illegal conduct occurred and, if so, to “take appropriate action”.

The question of hiring practices in Polis Chrysochous came to light after a formal complaint submitted on Wednesday by Kritou Terra deputy mayor Dervis Charalambous to both the interior ministry and auditor-general Andreas Papaconstantinou.

According to the complaint, the municipal council approved the appointment of several employees, including four whose fathers serve as deputy mayors, with those same deputy mayors allegedly participating in votes regarding their hiring despite having a direct conflict of interest.

Charalambous said he had urged the municipality not to ratify the minutes of the disputed plenary until the concerns raised were addressed. Despite this, he said, the council proceeded on Monday to ratify decisions making the workers, who had initially been hired on temporary contracts, permanent municipal employees.

He reported that a vote held in February last year examined whether those workers should remain in their posts or whether new positions should be advertised through an open recruitment process.

The council split evenly, with eight members supporting a new competition and eight favouring retention of the existing staff. The mayor cast the deciding vote, allowing the workers to remain.

Charalambous said he was obliged to report the case over the “criminal offences” allegedly committed after “the same persons of the municipal council ratified their illegalities.”

He added that he would not become an accomplice to these “illegalities” and would not participate in any further municipal sessions until the legality of the procedures is restored.

The Polis Chrysochous municipal council is made up of its mayor, 14 deputy mayors, and two others.