Limassol Municipality hired a person for a services contract in 2021. When he chose not to renew it, the municipality gave him a follow-up contract worth almost double the original sum, the Auditor General found.
The officer, hired to enforce town-planning rules, did not submit the monthly reports required under his contract, and the same failure recurred across his later engagements, according to the Auditor General’s report. The same person was later given other paid assignments, in one case without holding the excellent knowledge of Greek that the tender required.
According to the report, the municipality signed the first contract with the individual on 18.2.2021, after opening the role to public tender. The contract was worth €12,000 plus VAT for 12 months, with an option to renew for a further 12 months.
The contract expired on 17.2.2022, and the contractor chose not to exercise his renewal option.
The municipality then launched a new tender through a fast-track process. The contract was awarded again to the same person, this time worth €21,600 plus VAT for 12 months. A new agreement was signed for the period 15.4.2022 to 14.4.2023, later renewed until 14.4.2024.
The audit also found the contractor’s total engagement exceeded 30 months. An appeal to the director of the Social Insurance Services could have converted his status to that of a permanent employee. The contractor was paid a flat-rate travel allowance, while the municipality had also bought him a bicycle for his commutes.
During the town-planning enforcement contract, the municipality separately employed the same person on a specific programme, paying him a total of €8,500 plus VAT.
The same individual was awarded a €77,700 contract to provide support services for a specific project, despite not meeting an essential tender condition: he did not hold the required excellent knowledge of the Greek language, as stipulated in the tender terms.
Under criteria set by the Public Service Commission, excellent knowledge of Greek requires a graduate to have completed their studies at a Greek-language university. The individual, after completing his studies at a university abroad, went on to study for a further two years at a private university in Cyprus, in a field taught in English.
