The investigation committee looking into the causes of Cyprus’ economic debacle has decided that it will not probe cases being examined by the Courts.
The issue arose after a lawsuit was filed by the Special Administrator of Laiki Bank against Andreas Vgenopoulos, Efthimios Bouloutas, Kyriakos Magiras and Marfin Investment Group Holdings SA and the launch by the Attorney General of a criminal investigation into the Bank of Cyprus’ (BoC) acquisition of Russian Uniastrum Bank.
The Committee’s decision was announced Tuesday by its Chairman Georgios Pikis.
Pikis said that the Committee was not given the right to attribute criminal responsibility to people and that only judicial authorities can attribute rights and obligations.
The Chairman of the Committee noted that the acquisition of Uniastrum by the BoC is the subject of criminal investigation carried out by the Police and therefore any parallel investigation by the Committee would be tantamount to an intervention in the investigation.
President Nicos Anastasiades gave instructions to the Attorney General to investigate the circumstances of the acquisition of 80% of Uniastrum for €371 million in 2008. Alvarez and Marsal, a global financial forensic experts firm, appointed by the Central Bank of Cyprus to investigate the circumstances under which Cyprus` two largest banks had to request state support, ascertained that Bank of Cyprus went ahead with the purchase despite reservations expressed by a due diligence report. In its report, A&M also said that Bank of Cyprus considered but did not act upon the advice they received from their legal advisors, White & Case LLP law firm, advising the Cypriot bank to either renegotiate the purchase price or withdraw from the acquisition.
The decision of the three-member Committee was taken by majority as one of its members, Eliana Nicolaou, disagreed with the other two members and expressed the view that the lawsuit filed in the Courts does not rule out the Committee’s responsibility to probe cases related to banking institutions and especially Laiki Bank and that falls within its mandate.
Cyprus agreed with international lenders on 10 billon euro aid package under which it closed down the Popular Bank, and imposed painful losses on deposits of more than 100,000 euros held at the euro zone state`s biggest lender, Bank of Cyprus. Both institutions were heavily exposed to the Greek debt.
