Labour Minister Yiannis Panayiotou on Tuesday identified Apoel as the Nicosia football club hauled into court over non-payment of social insurance contributions, with the club later reacting angrily that it was being named and shamed in this way.
A day earlier, it emerged that criminal charges had been filed against a Nicosia football club for owing the state €2.3 million in social insurance. The first hearing in the trial is set for Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the labour minister named the club as Apoel.
“The law treats everyone the same,” Panayiotou told the public broadcaster. “Whoever has obligations toward the state, whoever is in arrears on social insurance contributions, be it an individual, a company or football club, and does not meet their obligations, will be led before justice.”
Panayiotou said Apoel – currently ranked fifth in the top division – owes €2.324 million in social insurance. This concerns the period 2020 to 2022. This is the amount for which the club is being taken to court, he explained.
But, he added, overall Apoel owes more than the €2.3 million. In total, the club owes €4.35 million, the remaining amount concerning the period from 2022 to the present day.
“It’s not a punitive process,” he went on to comment. “The law is applied in the same way for everyone, and no one can shirk their responsibilities.”
Later in the day, Apoel released a statement blitzing the minister for his remarks.
The club took exception with the minister for naming names, calling this conduct unprecedented, unethical, and even “immoral”.
It complained: “It is unheard of that a state official, and a minister no less, should publicly refer to court cases that have not even begun, and at the same time cite amounts – which are not even accurate, as the minister did not bother to be informed about payments that have come about.”
The club said that in recent days it “carried out meetings and opened channels of communications with all the relevant agencies. We have prepared proposals for a debt settlement. The plans are long-term, but they are also sincere and feasible.”
Apoel next accused Panayiotou of singling them out. It pointed out that football clubs collectively owe the state around €35 million – accounting for just 1.75 per cent of all such dues to the state.
“The remaining 98.25 per cent concerns ‘persons unknown’ whom no minister ever came out in public, on the radio or television, to brand in this way with names and numbers.”
The club said the minister was trying to “make a career” out of scapegoating Apoel – but it also bashed on media outlets for their ‘clickbait’ approach to news.
The defendants are alleged to have broken the law by withholding social insurance contributions as well as contributions relating to other funds such as the redundancy fund and Gesy (national health system).
It’s alleged that the club would deduct these amounts from the pay of employees – like football players and trainers – but would then not transfer the amounts to the government funds in question. Instead, the club kept the money.
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