Nicosia district government general manager Constantinos Parmaklis may have committed abuses of his powers in his previous role as general manager of the district’s water board, as well as “other possible corruption offences”, according to a report released by the anti-corruption authority on Thursday.

The authority’s report states that the Audit Office had initially examined Parmaklis and found evidence of possible abuses of power, and as such forwarded them on to the authority, which examined a total of 70 complaints against him.

Regarding the possibility of criminal liability, it made reference to a tender which was put out for the supply and installation of blinds for the (now-defunct) Nicosia Water Board, stating that Parmaklis’ wife is the first cousin of the director of the company which won the tender.

It said that given this, the company should have been excluded from the tender.

However, it said, he instead visited the premises of the business which won the tender before the process had been completed, and “urged its director to submit a lower price within the framework of a new tender process”.

“[Parmaklis], in his capacity as general manager of the Water Board and, consequently, as a public official, acted arbitrarily, acted above his station, and disregarded the rights of other bidders, who had the fair expectation that the tender may be awarded to them,” it said.

It added that Parmaklis’ actions “constitute arbitrary acts in violation of the relevant laws and regulations which govern public procurement and may constitute the offence of abuse of power”.

Another instance of possible criminal behaviour on Parmaklis’ part, it said, related to an internal audit he ordered in 2023 into a tender which was put out in 2015, handled by Pavlos Nicolaou, then head of the Nicosia Water Board’s financial services, who filed the complaint against Parmaklis which led to the investigation into him.

The report said Parmaklis had instructed an internal auditor who had an “intense personal rivalry” with Nicolaou to carry out an investigation into the tender – something which, it said, “questioned the objectivity of the investigation”.

It said the internal audit found that Nicolaou had “provided technical support regarding the tender … to a member of his family but was withdrawn from the evaluation committee for reasons of transparency”.

A company affiliated with Nicolaou’s brother participated in the tender process, but the tender was eventually awarded to a different company.

“The review of the issue after eight years, together with the fact that the investigation was assigned to an internal auditor with whom [Nicolaou] had an acute rivalry, was considered by [Nicolaou] to be a targeted and vengeful act on [Parmaklis’] part, with the aim of degrading his position and reputation,” the report said.

It later added that Parmaklis’ actions were “a consequence of the relationships which existed between [Nicolaou] and [Parmaklis] at the time” and that the decision to instruct an internal auditor to carry out a fresh investigation, when a previous investigation had been carried out closer to the time, “was taken vindictively”.

This, it said, “constitutes a potential abuse of power and a possible act of corruption by [Parmaklis] who aimed to vengefully target [Nicolaou]”.

The third instance of potential criminal activity on Parmaklis’ part was related to the creation of a new website for the Water Board, with Parmaklis deciding to pay €5,000 to directly assign the task to a private company.

The report said Nicolaou had “questioned the necessity of the change”, and said the company which created the existing website “could have implemented the upgrades”.

It also said a company had initially offered to carry out the task for €10,800, which was then “reduced to €5,000 to fall within the direct award limit”, though the new contract also foresaw a payment of €2,400 to maintain the website for five years.

“[Nicolaou] alleges that the selection of this specific company was not made with objective criteria, but was influenced by personal relationships of [Parmaklis] with persons connected with the specific company,” the report said.

It also said that the fact there ended up being two separate contracts – one to design the website and one to maintain it – was done without justification.

This, it said, may constitute a violation of public procurement laws.

The fourth and final potential criminal act came when, according to the report, Parmaklis sent tender offers received by the Water Board to another company with the aim of obtaining a better price.

This process, it said, “should normally have been carried out through the public procurement directorate”, and while it said that asking companies for indicative prices is not an offence in and of itself, disclosing the details of other bids is considered to be “disregarding the rights” of the other companies involved.

As such, it is considered an abuse of power.

The report also made reference to non-criminal disciplinary offences which may have been committed by Parmaklis, with those alleged offences also largely related to tender processes.

It has been handed over to the legal service.

Later in the day, the Nicosia district local government organisation (EOA) issued a statement backing Parmaklis.

It noted that all 70 complaints against Parmaklis originated from Nicolaou.

Without naming Nicolaou but clearly alluding to him, the Nicosia organisation added pointedly that Nicolaou had made the complaints at a time he himself was the subject of a disciplinary probe – where four employees had accused him of “harassment and/or sexual harassment”.

The Nicosia EOA said moreover that out of the 70 complaints against Parmaklis, only four have been flagged for further investigation.

This, it said, shows that the vast majority of the complaints were baseless and that Parmaklis’ conduct – if deemed abusive – cannot be described as systematic.

In a post on social media, Parmaklis made no comment other than to refer to the statement by the Nicosia EOA.

“On my part, I shall continue the productive work for the benefit of the public, and continue to help those in need,” he wrote.