The European Commission, party to the Vasiliko project, is seeking the return of a subsidy to the tune of 68 million 608 thousand, 438 euro, it was disclosed today by the Energy Ministry.
The work involving the processing and storing of liquified natural gas, is now literally ‘up in the air’ with the ministry set to respond to the claim before the end of the summer.
In a relevant written statement, the ministry says that the European Commission letter refers to a number of possible irregularities during the tendering assessment period in regard to the Vasiliko liquified natural gas Storing and Processing Terminal.
The aforementioned irregularities involve the assessment criteria of the China Petroleum PipelineEngineering Co. Ltd., Metron Energy Applications S.A., Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co. Limited και Wilhelmsen Ship Management Limited consortium.
‘The letter claims two possible breaches of the contract, the first of which concerns awarding the competition to the consortium in question and the 2nd being the signing of the bilateral agreement during the approval of the additional 25 million euro in June 2022’, it is added.
As a result of the above, the ministry notes, ‘the EC claims the return of 68.608.438,46 euro, the subsidy provided to the national natural gas company, as party to the contract’. The work, entitled ‘Cyprus Gas 2 EU’ is a joint interest project and received a total of 101 million.
‘Our priority remains to protect Cyprus Republic interests and to this end it is facilitating the on-going investigation in every way possible, in full cooperation with European authorities from the outset, as per the President’s instruction, with the goal of a comprehensive probe and zero tolerance in the eventuality of illegal action’, the ministry said.
The government still aims at completing the significant energy project in Vasiliko the soonest possible.
