By Hamza Hendawi
A MONEY laundering seminar that kicked off with a baffling joke about two senior Arab leaders yesterday heard former president George Vassiliou make a vigorous defence of Cyprus’ reputation as an international business centre.
The one-day seminar was organised by HSBC Investment Bank Cyprus Limited and, beside Vassiliou, was addressed by Central Bank Governor Afxentis Afxentiou and Robert Cooper, HSBC Group’s regional money laundering control officer.
The joke about President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd came in introductory remarks by Takis Taoushanis, the managing director of HSBC Cyprus.
Taoushanis said he was telling the joke to give his audience of several hundred people what he described as an “interesting angle” on money laundering.
During a visit to Egypt, the joke went, the Saudi king wanted to give Mubarak a Mercedes as a present. The Egyptian leader refused, insisting that to do so Fahd must accept something in return. Fahd agreed to take a pound, but Mubarak only had ten. When told by Fahd that he had no change, Mubarak asked for nine more cars instead.
The joke was received with polite laughter. Back to money laundering.
Vassiliou, also the island’s chief negotiator in the 13-month-old accession talks with the European Union, said Cyprus needed to counter recent allegations that Serbian money was illegally channelled to the island to purchase arms for the beleaguered Yugoslav government of President Slobodan Milosevic.
“The only way to convey the message is to be aggressive. A lot of noise is being made because of the Yugoslavia case, but we have to defend ourselves, particularly because we happen to know that we are honest,” said the former president, who said he felt strongly about the issue.
“I think that what we are facing is an organised effort to discredit Cyprus. But the truth is that Cyprus is not, was not and never will be a money laundering centre.
“Our Central Bank has gone out of its way in order to control banks operating on the island,” he added.
There are an estimated 40,000 companies registered as offshore enterprises on the island. A little more than 1,000 of these maintain a physical presence on the island, employing hundreds of people. The offshore sector, which includes some 30 banks and is among the fastest growing areas of economic activity, is also serviced by thousands of accountants, lawyers, real estate firms and other qualified Cypriots.
“I am doing everything I can to help Cyprus protect its image as a clean international business centre… we don’t like to be accused of money laundering,” Vassiliou said.
