The north’s ‘finance ministry’ is using stolen cars for official purposes, former Turkish Cypriot chief negotiator for the Cyprus problem Kudret Ozersay said on Sunday.

In a post on social media, he said his political party the HP’s “anti-corruption unit” had sought legal opinions from the north’s chief public prosecutor’s office on the practice of repurposing cars confiscated by the authorities after having been found to have been stolen as ‘government’ vehicles.

He said the chief public prosecutor’s office had been of the opinion that the process be brought to an end, and that a statement made by the north’s customs department on Saturday regarding stolen vehicles imported from abroad “confirmed this illegality”.

We are asking the finance ministry, ‘have you received a new opinion from the chief public prosecutor’s office?’ The law regarding the establishment and duties of the property and material supplies department state the department’s duties,” he said.

He added that the law allows the north’s authorities to purchase or build vehicles to be used for official purposes, and that thus, “the state’s need for official vehicles cannot be provided through confiscating stolen vehicles”.

“The property and material supplies department does not have this authority. Similarly, according to the law on customs and production, such goods must be sold or disposed of after a certain period of time,” he said.

If this is a state governed by the rule of law, the rule of law should be its basis … What they are doing is unbecoming of a state. When the laws are in force and the chief public prosecutor’s office is clear, you cannot ignore them and make arbitrary decisions contradicting them. For this reason, we will take the issue to the legal authorities,” he said.

Both the customs department and the property and material supplies department in the north fall under the ‘finance ministry’.

The statement from the customs department to which Ozersay was referring was made on Saturday, with the department having announced that a total of 61 vehicles imported to the north from the United Kingdom since June 2022 were found to have been stolen, and were as such seized.

The department had then added that the vehicles were transferred to the property and material supplies department, which then “makes evaluations in line with the needs of public institutions”.

It had said it confiscates vehicles which are found to have been stolen to prevent would-be buyers from unknowingly purchasing stolen vehicles, as people have “previously suffered” from this.

Ozersay had first raised the question of repurposed stolen vehicles being used by ‘government’ officials in the north back in 2011, when he alleged that then ‘finance minister’ and incumbent Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar was driving a stolen Land Rover Discovery.

However, the north’s customs department later confirmed that the car’s previous owner had left it at the Kyrenia port upon his arrival to the north before leaving to the Republic, never to return.

The car was then put up for auction by the north’s customs department, but no buyer was found, and as such, it was put into service as an official vehicle by the ‘finance ministry’.