Corrupt former Kıb-Tek manager jailed
THE former Cyprus Turkish Electricity Authority (Kıb-Tek) general manager Gürcan Erdoğan and his chauffer Hüseyin İnce have each been sentenced to 18 months in prison for embezzling over 100,000TL from Kıb-Tek.
A panel of three judges at Lefkoşa Assize Court found the pair guilty of “abuse of authority” and “causing losses” to Kıb-Tek through “illegal payments” totalling 101,180TL and 48 kuruş.
The case centred on 522 counts of Mr Erdoğan authorising fraudulent payments to Mr İnce for a total of 379 days of “extra work” which amounted to 100 per cent of Mr İnce’s wages, despite them knowing that Mr İnce was only entitled to claim up to 25 per cent of his salary in overtime.
The court also heard that fake
excuses were written on official overtime request forms, such as stating that Mr İnce had to drive Mr Erdoğan to attend to electrical “faults”, even on dates when it was established that one or the other was abroad or on leave. The crimes happened between June 2016 and January 2018.
The verdict was read out on Monday by Judge Fadıl Aksun, who stated that while the prosecution called 45 witnesses to testify and presented 59 pieces of evidence during the trial, the defence did not call any witnesses to testify, other than the defendants.
Judge Aksun said that Mr İnce had requested overtime “randomly and without any basis” and that Mr Erdoğan “approved it, thus contributing to the monetary consequences”.
He explained that “since these two actions are directly related to each other, we do not find it appropriate to make a distinction between the defendants in terms of sentencing”.
The judge pointed out that the defendants’ actions “harmed Kıb-Tek’s financial structure” and that the “cost of a service provided by the state or its affiliated institutions increases because of the undeserved gains of people who receive wages from public resources, which directly affects the public’s pocket”.
Judge Aksun added: “The economic, effective and efficient use of public resources is a factor that every public official should bear in mind while carrying out their duties. The damage caused by ignoring this is a public loss and the public suffer.
“Due to the sensitive nature of this situation, those requesting exceptional allowances such as overtime should act with integrity, and managers who supervise this should perform their duties by not wasting public resources. In the case before us, both defendants acted far from responsibly.”