Universal Bank vote decision postponed

The Supreme Court of Cyprus did not reach a final verdict on whether or not the decision of the Governor of the Central Bank, Athanasios Orphanides to strip Aspis Holdings – Commercial Value of their voting rights in Universal Bank Pcl (USB.CY) is justified or not, with a final decision expected soon.
Commercial Value and Aspis Holdings Pcl (ASP.CY) filed an appeal with the Supreme Court and asked for a temporary injunction order to overturn the decision of the Central Bank to strip them of 19.55% of their voting rights in Universal Bank until December 31, 2008, claiming that their purchases of USB shares without its explicit permission were in violation of the Banking Law.
Commercial Value insists that the Banking Law specifically states that once a permit is given, then the permission is in place unless it is recalled in writing, something that the Central Bank admits it has never done. The Central Bank on the other hand insists that although it initially gave permission to CV/Aspis to purchase the majority shares of USB, but after the latter sold the shares, they should have applied again to secure permission before purchasing the shares at EUR 5 per share, which gave them 51% effective control.
The Supreme Court was to have reached a decision on June 3, but after hearing the final comments from the two parties, said it would give its final verdict soon, but well before the Bank’s forthcoming AGM, due on June 24, 2008.