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Publications about cancellations of liabilities of political people have shaken Cyprus

30 March 2013 / 18:03:45  GRReporter
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After the tumultuous reactions that resulted from publications about cancellations of debts of political people and companies by Laiki Bank and the Bank of Cyprus, government official Christos Stylianidis said that if this was true, the government would seek responsibility of the guilty.

According to the Athens News Agency, deleted debt amounted to 6.2 million euro and 5.8 million dollars. The Agency reported that the "hot list" in question, which was first announced by the newscast "24 Hours" with the initials of the names, has already been given to Attorney General Petros Kliridis. However, for the time being, the judiciary will not take further measures. "The government will consider the matter in a fully transparent manner and will not hesitate to seek responsibility of all involved," said Stylianidis. He recalled yesterday's decision by the government for the establishment of a commission of inquiry, which will examine facts and decisions related to the provision, removal or reduction of loans or guarantees deletion and provision of other facilities by Cypriot banks, both in the country and abroad. It will also investigate whether there was control by the Central Bank of Cyprus. Stylianidis stressed that the country's president Nicos Anastasiades was particularly sensitive to this issue and has given strict instructions to the members of the Council of Ministers in order to facilitate the work of the commission. The Movement for Social Democracy urged that all involved give their consent to the investigation.

Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for institutions Dimitris Silouris assured that the commission would investigate the matter immediately. "Our committee has been investigating the functioning of the banking system for some time," said Silouris.

In turn, Vice-President of the Democratic Rally (DISY) Nicos Tournaris told Alpha 989 Radio, that it should be investigated whether "donated" loans really existed, and that those who are guilty should assume both criminal and political responsibility. "If loans were deleted without serious reasons, this would be unacceptable," he added. In a statement, DISY reiterated its position on the need for a thorough investigation of all the problems in the banking sector and said that it would support people’s expectations of taking the responsibility, regardless of who was involved.

AKEL’s General Secretary Andros Kyprianou also spoke about the need to investigate all similar cases. "We urge the Central Bank to submit to Parliament and to the Chief Prosecutor’s Office Alvarez and Marsal’s conclusions about banks and Greek bonds," Kyprianou said, adding that the owner of the Central Bank should provide a list of outflows from banks since 1 January 2013 onwards. "All this should be investigated in order to clarify the conditions under which credits have been deleted and those responsible should be investigated by the Justice," said Αlpha 989 Radio AKEL’s Political Bureau member Stefanos Stefanou. He added that everybody must be careful, because no one is guilty until proven otherwise.

George Perdikis of the Cyprus Green Party said that the party has scandalous information about activities of former governors of Laiki Bank who had retained credit accounts worth millions of euro without paying anything for months. Perdikis also talked about cuts in deposits, saying that there were well-founded allegations that guaranteed deposits of up to 100,000 euro of citizens who have loans in Laiki Bnak will also be cut. "The decision of the Central Bank that the amount of loans will not be deducted from the total amount of deposits (before cutting), but from the guaranteed 100,000 euro, is unfair and creates a state of panic," he said, adding that the Central Bank and the company carrying out Laiki Bank’s rescue should respond to this. In a statement, the Green Party strongly condemned publicly released information and characterised as extremely mean the fact that some people blare out daily in the media that there must be justice while, at the same time, they themselves are violating its norms.

Meanwhile, AKEL considers that the government's decision for the creation of a three-member commission that will investigate the events and current state of the economy and banking system instead of investigators is wrong. MP Aristos Damyanou acknowledged that the decision did not meet the expectations of society and was likely to be in vain.

Former Foreign Minister George Lillikas expressed doubts that the government would investigate and seek responsibility concerning the current economic disaster. In a written statement, Lillikas emphasised that investigating committees of this type are just a smokescreen. He urged that the Prosecutor General launch a criminal investigation of the reasons for the dire economic situation of Cypriot citizens.

 

Tags: Christos Stylianidis Andros Kyprianou Dimitris Silouris Cyprus banking crisis deletion of credits
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