Paphos to hold extraordinary council session with municipal secretary post vacant

The Paphos town council will hold an extraordinary session on Monday to decide on its next steps, with the post of municipal secretary remaining vacant.

Paphos has been without a municipal secretary since the retirement of 72-year-old Themis Philippides, but local news website PafosNet reported on Friday that the interior ministry is “concerned” that Philippides continued to perform his duties after being placed on pre-retirement leave.

The interior ministry’s director of local government affairs Antonis Economides had on Friday said that Philippides “should have been removed from his duties two weeks ago and taken his leave cumulatively”.

However, he said, the ministry “should now investigate whether during that two-week period, Philippides went to his office at the municipal building and performed the duties of municipal secretary when he should not have, and signed any documents”.

He said that any documents Philippides may have signed during that period would be considered invalid.

The investigation comes after Paphos mayor Phedonas Phedonos, who was suspended from his duties earlier this week, had written to the interior ministry in January, requesting that Philippides be allowed to remain in post “for some more time”.

It is expected that the council will on Monday select a person to fulfil the role of municipal secretary until a permanent replacement for Philippides is found.

Three names are said to be under consideration for the role: the municipality’s health services director Christos Christou, municipal engineer Christos Constantinides, and financial department director Constantinos Christoforou.

Phedonos was formally removed from his role on Thursday, having been accused of domestic abuse and rape.

His suspension will end either when legal proceedings regarding the allegations levelled against him have concluded. If he then returns to their duties, he will be entitled to their full amount of the salaries they had lost during his suspension.

Allegations of rape against Phedonos resurfaced earlier in the week, when Paphos-based land developer Theodoros Aristodemou, of Aristo Developers, accused him of committing the crime around ten years ago, before giving a statement to the police.

The domestic abuse allegations, meanwhile, surfaced after social media personality Ioanna Photiou, better known by her alias Annie Alexui, claimed to hold documents from the related to admissions of Phedonos’ wife Louiza Andreou to the Nicosia general hospital in 2017, which stated that she had been “beaten” by Phedonos.

Andreou has vehemently denied all accusations made against her husband, writing in a post on social media that “my family is being subjected to a coordinated attack”.