Minister of Transport: We must be judged for what we have done

We must be judged for what we have done and if the decisions we have made are wrong, we must be judged for the decisions, said Minister of Transport, Communications and Works Alexis Vafeadis, on Thursday regarding the issue of Takata airbags, on the sidelines of the meeting of the Parliamentary Control Committee, in which he participated, adding that what is most important at the moment is the implementation of all recalls.

Asked to comment on public statements that the Ministry had known about the Takata airbags since April 2023, but had done nothing since then, Mr. Vafeadis said that the issue has been known since the early 2000s and not 2023.

"The truth – and I have stated this in the newspapers – is that I met with Kyriakos Oxinos' father, he informed me of his own concerns. At the time, he was telling us that his son's tragic death was due to a Takata airbag and he even showed me some research he had done on the internet regarding this issue. I thanked him for the information," he said.

He added that the Ministry subsequently took many actions, not only informing the officials and employees of the Ministry about what has been done to date, he was also informed that the citizen information system had been put into operation, which, as he said, had been agreed with the distributors and had only recently been put into operation, while he was informed that this system goes far beyond the obligations of the Ministry of Transport.

"The TOM is the supervisory authority, it is not responsible for carrying out recalls, it is responsible for supervising recalls. Therefore, as Regulation 858 states, the responsibility lies with the manufacturer, the distributor, the importer and the supervision with the TOM. The Department informed me at the time that this activity was beyond its obligations and was auxiliary and subsidiary to the entire effort to inform citizens," noted Mr. Vafeadis.

"Presentations to the media followed, we had several interviews on television stations. We had proceeded to inform the public through online media, we had conducted research, we had exchanged letters with many public services to clarify the scope in which this is happening and then we had dealt not only with all of this but we also dealt with the issue of vehicles imported into Cyprus without European type approval, which is a very complex issue. It is really an issue that is a legal matter, you can only look at it legally," he added.

Therefore, said the Minister of Transport, "we say that we have systematically dealt with, we have never stopped dealing with this issue, and it really saddens me that the father of Kyriakos Oxinos, who is also a personal friend of mine, feels that we have not done enough."

"I say that we should be judged for what we have done and if the decisions we have made are wrong, we should be judged for the decisions. But we have dared to bring something that has not been done since 2010 to the surface, to cooperate of course with the House of Representatives, and we appreciate the cooperation, we have issued decrees that regulate all these issues," he added.

"We know that we are currently causing inconvenience to at least 80.000 of our compatriots, but what choice do we have, not to inform them, not to tell them that they may be at risk? Not to cooperate with the distributors, not to try to find solutions so that this case ends one day earlier?", he asked.

We believe, he pointed out, "that this is our duty and this is what we are doing and this is how we will move forward."

"We have a goal and we have started, we are already talking to distributors, and I must tell you that their first reactions are positive. That is, we see a quick response, an intention and a willingness to find solutions. And with this lens we are moving forward, with this approach we are moving forward. For me, the implementation of all recalls is the priority at the moment," he noted.

When asked if the possibility of assistance from the European Commission has been considered, Mr. Vafeadis said that when it becomes clear what will happen with the distributors, because the essence is for the manufacturing companies to supply the airbags, and if no solutions are found, then solutions will be sought everywhere.

Asked about any criminal responsibilities, the Minister said that the goal is to show what has happened from 2010 to the present and what has not happened.

"Consequently, with the completion of the first administrative investigation, we have identified an issue regarding the vehicles that entered without European type approval. We want to know, the Council of Ministers wants to know and we will move in this direction," he concluded.