Cyprus Airways loan decision blocked

The House plenary has postponed for two weeks a debate on a bill relating to the ratification of an agreement, guaranteeing a multi-million loan the national carrier has secured from a local bank.
The loan, worth 78 million euro, was given to Cyprus Airways by the Hellenic Bank and the bill before the House concerns government guarantees for its payment.
Social Democrats EDEK deputy Marinos Sizopoulos said in support of his proposal that the airline had not responded to repeated calls by the House Finance Committee to submit the names of the members of the Board of Directors and senior management who were responsible for the decisions leading to company losses during 2001-2003.
He said the message he wants to send with the postponement is that the House should not be ignored when it asks for information on issues pending before it for debate.
AKEL deputy Nikos Katsourides informed the plenary that the information requested had arrived earlier on Thursday, before the afternoon session of the House.
A report by the Finance Committee said that the airline decisions to sell Airbus A310 aircraft, lease Airbus A330 and Airbus A319 and the creation of Hellas Jet based in Greece are to be blamed for company losses.
Twenty-six of the MPs, who were present, backed the two-week postponement.