In several cases, as we were told by the Ministry of Justice, arrears exceed one year, with the State incurring additional administrative costs to monitor and recover such arrears.
In fact, there were cases where the police officers themselves who were recruited while off duty were left unpaid because the private landlords failed to pay the rental fees to the State for the services they received. It is emphasized that the rental fees are deposited in the state treasury, as public revenue.
The Auditor General of the Republic was also informed about the specific cases of individuals, while instructions were given how to collect the due money that was converted into civil debt, by filing lawsuits before the Court of Justice.
In particular, police services buy banking institutions to carry out checks on their branches, insurance companies to investigate road accidents, companies and entrepreneurs to transfer remittances and to escort large and dangerous cargoes.
Police services are also purchased to regulate traffic, such as in cases where road closures are required for the loading and unloading of goods. In addition, police services are rented for concerts and events, to conduct inspections on ships in ports and for security reasons at the Horse Racing Club.
There are many cases where members of the Police and the Fire Service were recruited, as well as their vehicles and facilities, for the needs of Cypriot television producers.
Recently, following recommendations from the Audit Office, the Internal Audit Service and the General Accounting Office, the Minister of Justice, Ionas Nikolaou, submitted a proposal to the Council of Ministers for a review of the existing procedure, while increasing the amount of the charge. Aiming, on the one hand, to calculate in advance the cost of these services in order to collect the rental fees in advance, something that was not done before and on the other hand, to increase the revenues of the State.
Based on the decision of the Council of Ministers, the following now applies:
1. Rental fees for police - firefighting services are paid in advance.
2. The rental fees are calculated for the Members of the Police and the Fire Brigade whose Salary scale does not exceed A7 based on the hourly overtime pay of the top of the scale A5 and for the remaining Members, based on the average level of the overtime level. their.
3. The calculation of working hours paid by the landlord is based on the current formula for calculating overtime hours for all Members of the Police and the Fire Brigade, whether they are in service or out of service.
4. Police officers - firefighters are paid the full amount due to them Based on the hourly rate of their scale in replacement of the practice that was valid until recently where they received only 2/3 of the amount of overtime pay of their scale.
5. To the total amount of charge are added the respective contributions to the Social Insurance Fund.
6. An additional charge is imposed to cover the administrative and operational expenses of the Police.
7. The lessor pays the transport costs for the use of an official vehicle.
8. The charges relate to a minimum rental time of two hours.
It is worth mentioning that similar services are offered in several EU Member States under the same terms, conditions and approval procedure and payment.
Source: Liberal