The Cyprus Community of NSW (CCNSW) is set for major developments in the immediate and near future, with an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) scheduled to discuss the organisation’s financial future, the resignation of President Andrew Costa, and the acceleration of its AGM.

In a letter to its members, the Board set an EGM for Sunday, February 11 at 3 p.m. to be held at the Cyprus Community Club in Stanmore.

The meeting will involve discussions of the Community’s economic future, especially in relation to what will be done about its building, along with various resolutions that will be discussed and voted on.

The organisation, in printed material sent to its members, has summarised the proposals for what to do with its building into two options: 1. Sell and relocate or 2. Stay and redevelop the current site with a Joint Venture Party.

The Board of Directors invites all members to attend the EGM and states that those who would like to receive more information or have questions can contact the offices of the Community.

The notice for the EGM was sent on Tuesday, January 16, with the signatures of Andrew Costa, as President, and Mr Peter Kitas, as secretary.

Since then, Mr Costa, in a letter addressed to the Members of the Cyprus Community, announced his resignation as president and cited actions taken by certain board members, and the Board itself becoming “increasingly intransigent and undisciplined”, as reasons for his exit.

Vice President Michael Kyriakou will serve as interim President of the Community until further notice while Mr Costa will remain a Board Member of the CCNSW as a Board member for the time being.

The Community announced on its digital media on Wednesday, January 3, that they will hold their AGM on Sunday, April 7 at 3pm.

It stated that further information will be provided “in the near future”, with the announcement being signed by Mr Kyriakou (referred to as President) and Mr Kitas.

Mr Costa’s resignation letter to the Club’s members raised some of his reasons as to his leaving his post.

The first reason he named was consistent opposition to add two extra Board Members to fulfill what he stated was the Constitution’s guidelines for a minimum 9-member Board.

Another issue raised was the Board’s apparent refusal to cooperate with the organisation’s main lender, Cyprus Capital Ltd, along with unauthorised actions by the Assistant Treasurer, Chris Papantoniou, to negotiate a $12 million loan.

Mr Costa’s letter states the latter added an extra $3 million in debt and “was done without the Board’s knowledge of the lender or approval of the terms of the loan”.

The now-resigned President added that he had apparently been “denied access to daily communications and critical documents” by the Secretary (Peter Kitas) which also severely hampered his ability to fulfill his presidential responsibilities.

Mr Kitas provided a statement to Neos Kosmos in response to the issues raised in Mr Costa’s letter, firstly saying that their Constitution “states a maximum of nine Board members, not a minimum of nine”, and that “six is adequate for quorum”.

In regards to Mr Costa’s statement that “per the resolution the 2019 EGM Cyprus Capital is currently the only legitimate lender to the Community other than Bendigo Bank”, Mr Kitas said that this resolution “does not hold for the current refinance required”.

He added that Mr Papantoniou sought out funding for the Community per the Board’s request for members to try to do so, which they had requested as far back as October 2022, and stated that there have been no issues raised by the external auditor for their finances from 2023.

Mr Kitas stated that at no point has he or Mr Papantoniou “breached any of our fiduciary duties or broken any laws and the board was fully aware of situation at all times”.

The Secretary also said that “at no time has Mr Andrew Costa been denied access to any emails or communications of the Club”, acknowledging that the only document that has not been provided to the Board or President is the membership list of the Club.

He concluded by saying that “there has been no information held back and all board members have been involved in all decision-making”.