Kıb-Tek is ‘taking a hit because of corruption’

THE Cyprus Turkish Electricity Authority (Kıb-Tek) is taking a “hit” of “400-500 million TL a year” Deputy Prime Minister and Economy and Energy Minister Erhan Arıklı said this week.

The money is lost through “corruption” in fuel oil procurement and maintenance work on generators, he said.

Speaking during an appearance on a programme on Kıbrıs TV, Dr Arıklı said: “Over 20 to 25 years, Kıb-Tek has become a sinecure. There is a hit of 400-500 million TL every year.

“Neither those appointed to the institution, nor the bureaucrats, nor those who arranged the [fuel oil] tender were brought before the judiciary. There are also reports from the Court of Accounts, but they have never been brought before the courts.

“Not one step forward has been taken with the Court of Accounts reports since 2010. The Court of Accounts is doing its job but the reports have not been processed.

“This makes the Court of Accounts meaningless. . . What the police have to do is get the Court of Accounts report, examine it and present it to the prosecutor’s office. As a result of our pressure and persistence, two files were sent to the prosecutor’s office months later.”

Referring to a parliamentary committee’s report on Kıb-Tek, the minister continued: “The report should have been prepared 10 times until now but it has not been in order to try and put it off until the elections.”

Dr Arıklı stated that the first thing he did when he took office was to stop the “address delivery tenders” and that he halted the $38.8 per tonne fuel oil tender because he believed that the fuel oil, used to generate electricity, could be acquired for less. He said that he then negotiated a price of $28, saving Kıb-Tek $2.2 million.

There is “corruption” not only in the fuel oil procurement process, he continued, but also with power station generator maintenance and that “three out of the eight generators” are idle.

Noting that “sub-standard” parts are used in servicing and that some generators broke down because of this, Dr Arıklı said: “These generators need to be repaired with their original parts as soon as possible. Otherwise, we will reach the peak [energy use] in July-August. We have even had to obtain electricity from South [Cyprus] during this period.”

Kıb-Tek is owed a total of 900 million TL, Dr Arıklı revealed, but said the amount includes unpaid bills dating back to the 1980s or bills belonging to people who are dead.

“It is necessary to collect this 900 million TL,” he said. “This is being done this year. [Kıb-Tek] will set aside ‘dead’ receivables and go after ‘real’ receivables.

“The state and municipalities have debts and we are trying to restructure them. We also have receivables from the private sector and they are subject to very strict rules. The electricity is being cut off.”

On rising inflation, Dr Arıklı said that other than the “huge price difference for detergents and shampoos in comparison to Turkey,” there is “little price difference” for other products.

He said that, according to the law, he has the authority to fix the prices of consumer goods and that he has also warned suppliers and wholesalers about the issue.

“We created the legal regulation for this, it’s currently waiting with the [parliamentary] committee,” he added.