Nicosia bus company’s eight directors under investigation

By Andria Kades
All eight of Nicosia bus company OSEL’s directors are being investigated in connection with fraud, forgery and extortion under false pretences police have confirmed.
Auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides in his annual report released on Monday outlined that an investigation into one of the country’s six bus companies began last month.
The eight directors are suspected of conspiring to commit a crime, conspiracy to defraud, forgery, extortion under false pretences and keeping dodgy books.
The case has been filed with the legal services and is expected to head to court.
Although the specific company is not named in the report, police confirmed OSEL is the only bus company undergoing police investigations and has four separate cases being examined.
They include, apart from the ones outlined in the report, the scuffle that took place outside OSEL’s headquarters last month where six people allegedly attacked chairman Iordanis Iordanous and two employees as well as ongoing statements to police by OSEL shareholder Tasos Michaelides.
Last month, the shareholder blocked Arediou terminal with buses while a member of his family dug a trench around a number of buses in the same area to prevent the company from retrieving them in a bid to publicise his claims OSEL was riddled with dodgy work, false accounts and scams to cheat the state over fuel and bus maintenance costs.
The auditor’s report, published on Monday outlines one bus company submitted a counterfeit invoice for a bus purchase to the customs department which allowed them to pay less tax.
Despite the fact that the company paid a fine, police are investigating the case and have asked the bus manufacturer to send the original invoice.
Additionally, the same company, would issue bus fuel invoices higher than what they actually paid, pointing to higher service costs leading to more state support.
Government financially contributes to the companies to cover any losses incurred. In 2014, it paid a lump sum of €47.7 million distributed to all the companies.
Two directors have been charged for the case, the report outlines.
Company members would also fill their own vehicles with fuel but charge it to the company that would result in the state paying for the costs, the report added.