The Finance and Transport ministries have given contradictory accounts of how Cyprus’s speed camera contractor is paid, sparking demands from opposition MPs for full disclosure of the agreement.
The clash emerged during a House Finance Committee discussion of a €229.9 million supplementary budget for 2025, which included €3.9 million for the Transport Ministry.
A Finance Ministry official told the committee the payment covers expenses for the speed camera company, adding that “part of the company’s costs will be covered. Depending on the volume of violations, the amount of compensation the company receives increases”.
The statement prompted an angry response from MPs, who said they had been assured during Transport Committee discussions that the company receives no commission from violations.
AKEL MPs Aristos Damianou and Andreas Kafkalias said they will demand the full contract be submitted to parliament.
The Department of Electromechanical Services later issued a statement contradicting the Finance Ministry account. It said the contractor for the island-wide speed camera system receives no payment or commission linked to violations, reports or fine payments.
According to the department, payments are based on operating hours of fixed and mobile cameras, at hourly rates specified in the contract. Fixed cameras operate around the clock, whilst mobile cameras follow schedules set by Cyprus Police.
Airport software dispute
Damianou also criticised the inclusion of funding for software at Larnaca and Paphos airports that will identify passengers with unpaid fines and bar them from leaving Cyprus.
He said the Legal Affairs Committee had asked the Transport Ministry not to proceed with the project, but it was pushed through via the budget amendment.
The system will allow police to serve undelivered fines at airports, ports and checkpoints when recipients failed to collect them by post or from process servers. MPs had pointed out that passengers can only be stopped at airports and ports with a court warrant.
The Electromechanical Services Department said the airport and port software has been deemed fully legal and compliant with legislation, but will not be implemented at this stage.