The coalition government has granted T&T, the company contracted to build, own and operate the new terminal at Ercan Airport, a tax amnesty of around 60 million Euros, Yeniduzen reports.
The director of the T&T, Emrullah Turanli, has a history of demanding tax exemptions after he was granted the contract for the new terminal in 2015. The terminal only came into service in July and still has no mains electricity.
Member of the CTP Salahi Şahiner, has lashed out at the government’s decision adding that it had not been published in the Official Gazette.
Şahiner said, “This so-called government, which normalises lies and theft, corruption and bribery, has no dignity and reputation left“.
His statement reads as follows: “The UBP-DP-YDP government is creating a meritless order in which dignity is sold for rent every day, corruption and favours are valued more, morality is thrown away, and corruption is the procedure. In this usurpation order, while no convenience is granted to labourers, tradesmen, tourists and producers, all kinds of favours are provided to cronies. They took a cabinet decision to put the rights of the people into the coffers of T&T, Emrullah Turanli’s company, quietly, silently, thinking that they could hide it.
“Signed in 2012, the Administrative and Technical Specifications of the Ercan Privatisation Tender must legally constitute the basis for the additional contracts to be signed later. Additional contracts signed later on must be in compliance with these specifications. Despite the fact that the criteria for force majeure are clearly written in the
Administrative and Technical Specifications and that the airport to be built must comply with international aviation standards, the UBP-DP-YDP Government will ignore these legal obligations and put 60 million Euros into the coffers of the T&T company.
“The government is again seeking and finding the most effective and shortest way to transfer rent to its cronies. For this, it ignores the law as usual.
“... Those sitting in the seat of government should not forget that every favour they pull is the labour of the Turkish Cypriot people. Every specification clause you violate is illegality. Every fortune you have obtained through corruption is what you have stolen from these people”.