IT DID NOT take long for the odious bank employees union Etyk to engage in self-righteous triumphalism, tinged with the familiar xenophobia, over the departure of the Hellenic Bank CEO, “the foreign” Oliver Gatzke, who lasted two years of his three-year contract.
The Hellenic board announced on Tuesday that Gatzke would be leaving the bank by mutual agreement and that it had placed him on “gardening leave,” which is code for keeping him on full pay (of about 700 grand), without him working, until next July when his contract ends.
On Wednesday Etyk issued its racist and offensive rant, declaring that the “experiment of the ‘foreigner’ has once again failed,” and expressed the “hope that this will become a lesson and that the board of directors will take the above into account when it searches for a new CEO.”
As if it were not bad enough that he was a “foreigner,” Gatzke exhibited “arrogant and provocative behaviour, with tendencies of zero appreciation of staff said Etyk, which issued advice on the qualities the board should seek in the new CEO.
“He must have knowledge, experience, know the goings-on in the Cyprus market, the culture and history of the country.” Etyk, has also ruled out women, its statement referring to the CEO exclusively as a male.
In the CEO vacancy advertisement, it should be stated clearly that “Foreigners and women need not apply because the bank employees union likes neither.” Candidates should also sit an exam on Cyprus history.
“THE FOREIGNER” is the second Hellenic Bank CEO in a succession to leave by mutual agreement before his contract had expired. His predecessor, Ioannis Matsis, although not a foreigner, also had big rows with the thuggish Etyk boss Loizos Hadjicostis before going on gardening leave.
‘A love of gardening’ should perhaps also be a requirement of the new Cypriot, male CEO, as there is a strong likelihood that he will end up looking after his garden before his contract is up.
Having two CEOs paid off to leave before the end of their respective contracts, after both stood up to the union, does not reflect very well on the board of Hellenic, as it gives the impression, rightly or wrongly, that it is afraid of Etyk. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, “To lose one CEO may be regarded as a misfortune, to lose two looks like carelessness.”
Interestingly, before Matsis and Gatzke, Hellenic had the same CEO for nine years – Makis Keravnos, the current finance minister, who was hired by the Church, which was the main shareholder in 2005. Keravnos had zero experience of banking and had never before managed any business but was deemed the perfect man for the job by the Archbishop because of his hard line on the Cyprob.
He drove the bank to the brink of collapse, but it was saved by foreign investors in 2013, while the Church’s shareholding was drastically diluted as a result.
THE BULLIES of Etyk had nothing bad to say about Keravnos, in his nine years in charge because as a good Cypriot he obeyed the union tyrant Hadjicostis.
As for accusing Gatzke of failure and “not leaving behind positive work,” it shows the union bully’s talent for propaganda. Hellenic’s profits this year are expected to exceed €200 million, which for most people with half a brain would count as pretty positive work by “the foreigner.”
Hadjicostis, the expert judge of bank CEOs, never identified the negative work done by Andreas Vgenopoulos, who singlehandedly plundered Laiki Bank and led it to bankruptcy. He could do this freely, because he was not a foreigner but a Greek brother, who had bought Hadjicostis’ undying loyalty by giving his daughter a job at the bank and Etyk a seat on the Laiki board.
In fact, at the end of 2011, when Laiki was already wobbling and Vgenopoulos was forced by the Central Bank to step down as chairman of the board, Etyk held a dinner in Athens to honour the great crook. What more proof do we need of Hadjicostis’ impeccable credentials to judge the abilities of a bank CEO?
AS ALWAYS on August 3, Kyproulla honoured the passing of Archbishop Makarios with the usual over the top tributes to his greatness and wisdom.
His most passionate fan, now that Ourania Kokkinou has departed, is undoubtedly the former Edek leader Yiannakis Omirou, who got in there before the other worshippers started praising him. Omirou published an embarrassingly obsequious article about the man, on August 1, saying that “defending “Makarios’ political philosophy, against the disrespectful perverters, is an obligation.”
He continued: “And this is because it is an axiom that the absence of great historical figures becomes more apparent with the passing of time. And because in the case of Makarios this axiom takes on even bigger dimensions, as with the unchanging aims, the flexible strategy, the fighting realism, but also with the global prestige and the overwhelming support of the people, he was a leader who stamped indelibly the historical course of Cyprus.”
He sure stamped it indelibly. As any disrespectful perverter would tell you, during Makarios enlightened 17-year presidency the territory of the Cyprus Republic contracted by 40 per cent, even though his global prestige remained at 100 per cent. Of course, it was not his fault, but he did leave a smaller republic to his successor and a political philosophy that ensured it stayed that size.
DEITY-GENERAL Odysseas decided to play architectural historian last week. He prefaced a statement he issued about the work being done at the presidential palace with a very interesting info about its architectural design by our good for nothing British colonial masters back in 1931.
According to the audit office, “Byzantine, Gothic and Turkish elements are incorporated in the architecture.” Designs from different parts of Cyprus – monasteries, castles etc – were used in the architectural design, while wood from Cyprus’ forests and local stone were exclusively used for the building. It was very informative, educational information from Odysseas for which we thank him.
The Brits took great care to build a palace that was a tribute to local culture and design. Then Comrade Tof came along, and had a hideous, low-cost, functional monstrosity built next to the presidential palace building, to use as a banqueting hall. And the tragedy is that he never realised that his Trikkis Palace construction was an aesthetic crime.
SPEAKING of the presidential palace, in the Omikron interview published last week, the First Lady of Cyprus PKC also explained why she thought it was a good idea to use it as the family residence.
“For us the primary consideration was for Nikos to do his work uninterrupted. He passes endless hours at his office, Saturday, and Sunday. We thought that if we were close to him, he could ‘steal’, more easily a little time with the children or find some time to rest, eat with us, see them.”
A perfectly sensible response, but the reality is that Nikos seems never to be in his office. When he is not abroad, which is pretty often, he is always out and about, attending openings of nurseries, parks, chapels, art exhibitions, businesses or making speeches to girl guides, boy scouts, schools, not to mention the weddings he goes to at weekends.
And the re-election campaign has only just begun.
AMONG the things discussed by the Prez Nik II with King Abdullah during his visit to Jordan on Tuesday was the creation of a “regional centre for forest firefighting” in Kyproulla.
Spokesman Minnie Me said that “the creation of such a centre will project even more the regional role of Cyprus and will further strengthen our country’s already strong ties with Jordan and other countries of the area.”
To underline this commitment to a forest fire-fighting centre, the Prez, on Friday night, visited the centre that was coordinating the firefighting in Alassa. Jordan had already offered to send aircraft to help with the firefighting, he said, while Israel was waiting for a call. Our regional role is definitely rising.
CREDIT to Edek for making a fuss about the attendance of the Turkish Cypriot mayor of Famagusta at Saturday night’s gathering in Dherynia organized annually by the Famagusta municipality.
This threatened to “downgrade the event from anti-occupation to bi-communal,” which was unacceptable said Edek, announcing its decision not to attend. Admittedly the liberation of Varosha was more likely if the gathering was anti-occupation and not attended by the pseudo mayor.
In the end the pseudo mayor, feeling unwelcome, declined the invitation. His invitation inspired a lot of the usual patriotic nonsense, but the winner of the rhetoric contest was the positive spin put on this by a Dipa deputy.
The attendance of the so-called mayor of occupied Famagusta, in the presence of the president of the republic and other state officials, could be interpreted as indirect recognition of the Cyprus Republic.
Are we so desperate we are now seeking the indirect recognition by a pseudo-mayor?
