Pension waiver law proves toothless

Despite a law having just come into force, allowing state officials to waive receiving a pension while still in active service, it turns out this has no practical application, media reports revealed on Thursday.

Daily Politis reported on the law – co-sponsored by Disy and Diko – which the House passed in early July and which gives state officials the option to waive their pension or pensions as long as they serve.

But it turns out, if one reads the text of the law, that it’s moot. The legislation states that the pension waiver declaration “is signed immediately after the election or appointment of the state official, or fifteen days at the latest following their appointment”.

What this means, in practice, is that it doesn’t apply to the some 30 state officials still receiving a salary as well as a pension for past service in the public sector. That’s because the deadline of the fifteen days since their appointment has long expired.

It was the latest twist in the long-running saga of multiple pensions for state officials, which parliament tried to regulate in July just before the summer recess.

In the past, state officials who wanted to waive receiving their pension for as long as they were serving in their post, did so through a straightforward process – they simply sent a letter to the treasury informing it of their intention to ‘gift’ their pension either to the state or to a charitable organisation.

This was not provided for by any law or regulation.

Among those who had waived their pension in this way were Kikis Kazamias, Zeta Emilianidou, Ioannis Kasoulides, Yiannakis Omirou, Nicos Nicolaides, Onoufrios Koulla, Averof Neophytou, and Savia Orfanidou.

This in turn raises another question, said Politis – if such a process was available, why have not more state officials made use of it?

The newspaper recalled that back when it censured President Nikos Christodoulides for the fact he draws a salary and a pension, and he did not feel the need to waive the latter, the government spokesman said that no such waiver procedure existed – whereas it did exist.

Moreover, speaking to a television channel last September, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis asserted that a relevant legislation had to be enacted before state officials could waive their pension.

Clearly that was false, said Politis. Or, it added sardonically, those who had waived their pension must have broken the law.

President Christodoulides is among the 30 or so officials who continue to receive a salary plus a pension. According to data published by the treasury, his monthly net salary comes to €9,016. He also gets a pension of €1,013 for his service up until December 31, 2012.

And once he reaches the age of 58 – he is now 51 – he will become eligible to receive an additional €300 in pension benefits for his service from January 2013 through to February 28, 2018 when he retired from the public sector.

Meantime Finance Minister Makis Keravnos is on a salary of €5,957. In his most recent wealth declaration, he declared pensions totaling €4,151.

Likewise Education Minister Athena Michaelidou gets a salary of €5,957, and receives a pension as former public-school educator.

Irini Piki, the undersecretary to the president, has a salary of €5,957, while also getting a pension as former member of the civil service.

Ombudswoman Maria Stylianou-Lottides is on a €6,704 salary, and receives a pension as a former state’s attorney.

Certain members of the anti-corruption authority get a salary €4,217 plus a pension.

The MPs who receive a salary – €5,500 – plus a pension for prior service in the public sector are:  Yiannakis Gavriel (Akel), Andreas Themistocleous (independent), Charalambos Theopemptou (Greens), Giorgos Karoullas (Disy), Marinos Moushiouttas (Dipa), Rita Superman (Disy), and Alekos Tryfonides (Dipa).