One of the island’s leading law firms, Andreas Neocleous & Co. LLC, that had been hired by the Central Bank of Cyprus as the resolution authority to recover assets from defunct Laiki Bank’s former strongman Andreas Vgenopoulos, said it will sue the Central Bank Governor for defamation, after she was alleged to have said that the law firm bribed the Assistant District Attorney.
The allegation, made during the House Ethics Committee hearings by Central Bank board member Stelios Kiliaris, who resigned earlier in the day, prompted ADA Rikos Erotokritou to call on Governor Chrystalla Georgadji to justify her claim within 24 hours or resign.
“Ii is with great pain that we witness an effort by some to help those who destroyed the Cyprus economy,” an announcement from Neocleous said, adding that they had received plaudits for the subpoenas issued on Vgenopoulos and two other close associates.
This, the law firm said, did not go down well with those “following orders” who continue to undermine our efforts and remove us from the case.
“A lot more serious matters will be said, but these will be presented in our law suit against Mrs Georgadji for defamation, regardless if she resigns or not and independelt of any other criminal prosecution against her or not,” the law firm said.
‘Legacy’ Laiki Special Administrator Andri Antoniades also quit claiming that the Neocleous law firm defending was replaced by the resolution authority (Central Bank) by the rival firm of Chrysses Demetriades & Co. LLC without her knowledge.
All political parties joined the “told you so” bandwagon and called for the Governor’s resignation, while Deputy Government Spokesman Victor Papadopoulos said that “it is the duty of those who represent the institutions that serve critical sectors of the economy, to take responsibility for their action,” hinting that perhaps the Governor ought to resign on her own accord.
President Nicos Anastasiades, he said, will look into the matter personally, upon his return from a two-day visit to Egypt.
Meanwhile, the duped depositors association, SYKALA, who have been demanding that the 18% stake held by ‘Legacy Laiki’ in Bank of Cyprus after the forced takeover, which has now dwindled to less than half of that, be handed over to the group in order to ensure that they savings in defunct Laiki will not be lost forever.
They have called for a protest march on Thursday, March 26, at 3.45 PM in front of the House of Representatives in Nicosia.
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