Police probe Paphos Municipality hiring complaints under suspended Phedonos

Local corruptionCrimePaphospoliceTop News Police probe Paphos Municipality hiring complaints under suspended Phedonos Police Take Statements Over Paphos Municipality Hiring Claims Under Suspended Phedonos Relevant News Police probe Paphos Municipality hiring complaints under suspended Phedonos 27 July 2026 People mourn in Berlin after vehicle drives into CSD Pride event 27 July 2026 Stranded tourists evacuated from China’s famed Jiuzhaigou World Heritage site after mudslides, heavy rain 27 July 2026 Fanis Makrides 27 July 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber CID Headquarters is taking witness statements as part of a 2022 complaint alleging five unlawful hirings at Paphos Municipality during the tenure of suspended Mayor Phedon Phedonos. According to press reports published yesterday (Pafos Live), council members were summoned by CID Headquarters to give their positions on the hirings in question. Based on information cross-checked by philenews, the case under investigation is one of four complaints filed by a senior municipal officer against suspended Mayor Phedon Phedonos and former municipal secretary Themis Filippidis. The officer filed the complaint in spring 2022 with CID Paphos, after which CID Headquarters took over the investigation. The case file, covering four aspects, was last forwarded to the Attorney General’s office this past January, who, as Phileleftheros revealed last March, ordered additional investigative steps. Those additional steps requested by the head of the Law Office include the summonses issued to the individuals mentioned above, who served as council members during the period in question. Audit Office findings As Phileleftheros revealed last February, the Audit Office, called in following a decision by the Attorney General to assist the police investigation, had reached significant findings. The hiring procedures for five positions at Paphos Municipality, with pay reaching up to €53,258, were found to be riddled with flaws. A councillor’s relative, it emerged, was hired irregularly. The five positions in question are a Smart City Projects director, a Smart City Projects deputy director, and three permanent Municipal Service officers. No approval obtained Evidence obtained by police in autumn 2023 shows Paphos Municipality had not received the necessary approvals when it began the hiring process for the Smart City Projects director and deputy director. In fact, it launched the hiring process three months before receiving approval. When it advertised the positions, the Municipality stated that “the basic salary will be at the starting point of scale A13: €53,258. Any approved increase and the cost-of-living allowance in effect during the period of employment will be added to the salary.” The Smart City deputy director position, meanwhile, was graded A8-10-11 for a three-year term. Paphos Municipality applied to the Interior Ministry for approval on 23/9/2021. However, on 6/10/2021, before the Ministry’s Director-General had responded, the Municipality began the hiring process for both positions. Specifically, it announced in two local media outlets that it was accepting applications for Fixed-Term Employees. It was also found that, before receiving the relevant approval, the Municipality had offered appointments to specific individuals on 22/11/2021 and 10/12/2021 respectively, to fill the two posts. The Interior Ministry’s response came much later. The written approval for the director-level positions in question was dated 27 January 2022, and stated, among other things: “The Ministers of Interior and Finance (…) have jointly approved (…) the hiring of one Director (scale A13) and one Deputy Director of Smart City Projects (scale A11), as Fixed-Term Employees, for a period of three years or earlier should the need for which they are hired cease to exist.” There were other irregularities, too. Following an on-site inspection by the Audit Office, it was found that the Municipality had hired a specific individual for the Smart City Projects Deputy Director position who had not even submitted an application. Three permanent officers According to documents obtained and revealed by Phileleftheros (“Φ”), the process followed for hiring three permanent Municipal Service officers also appears to have been unlawful. It emerges that the council unlawfully applied a curve adjustment to written exam results in order to fill the positions, rewarding individuals who had failed the written exam. Notably, the Deputy Rector of the University of Cyprus and chair of the Centre for Scientific Training, Assessment and Development (KEPEAA) had warned against the unlawful process. Written exams to fill the positions took place on 17/12/2022. Of 72 candidates, only three achieved the required score. Following the oral exam (11/3/2023), only two individuals accepted the appointment. One of the two officers resigned a month later, on 11/4/2023. The municipal secretary, in a letter to the University’s Deputy Rector (22/3/2023), requested a statistical adjustment and ultimately a curve applied to the results of candidates who had failed, in order to avoid lengthy hiring procedures. The intention was to interview the individuals who would emerge from that adjustment, in order to fill the vacant positions. The Deputy Rector responded negatively on 30/3/2023. She noted that no established statistical adjustment (curve) procedure existed, and that any such adjustment would need to have been included in the original job announcement to be legally valid. The KEPEAA chair also pointed out that the three-point addition the Municipality had applied to the aptitude test (20% of that test’s score) was arbitrary and potentially open to legal challenge. On 13/4/2023, the Municipal Council, acting on the advice of the Municipality’s legal adviser and contrary to the Deputy Rector’s recommendations above, invited the six candidates with the highest combined scores, following the adjustment, to an oral exam. The Municipal Council ultimately decided, following that process, to hire the 1st and 2nd ranked candidates, who were 4th and 7th respectively on the original list. Before their appointment, one had been working at the Municipality on an indefinite-term contract and the other on a fixed-term contract. One of the two was, at the time in question, a relative of a councillor. On 13 February, when we asked Phedonos about the hirings in question and the possible irregularities, he stressed that everything had been done lawfully. 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