SERBIAN gold flew into Larnaca airport in sealed wooden crates between 1995 and 1998, where Laiki Bank staff collected it, deposited it in their safes then meted it out to offshore Serbian companies in Cyprus – according to a front-page report in Alithia yesterday.
The information was attributed to an anonymous officer who served in the Rapid Reaction Unit at Larnaca Airport during the period in question.
The source said that “three or four wooden crates laden with gold” and sacks full of dollars were taken to the Larnaca Airport branch of Laiki Bank, where they were documented.
He said they were then loaded into a Volkswagen van owned by Laiki and driven under armed police escort to the Bank’s branch opposite Larnaca Police Headquarters.
Alithia says a representative of Laiki Bank confirmed that other banks also handled the gold and sacks of dollars, which was paid to offshore Yugoslav companies, who used it to buy products on behalf of Belgrade.
The former Rapid Reaction Unit officer said those responsible for the operations were senior Laiki employees and some Yugoslavian men.
But the Governor of the Central Bank, Afxentis Afxentiou, told the Cyprus Mail last night that he doubted the report was correct.
“There is nothing to our knowledge about gold coming into Larnaca airport. I don’t think that this information can be true because the import of gold to Cyprus requires a special permit, given only by the Central Bank. Indeed, the Chief Executive of Laiki called me this morning to express his amazement about the article,” he said.
Alithia’s police source said no police records were kept about the use of police cars in this capacity, and that “after two or three times” he refused to participate in the armed escort.
The report followed hot on the heels of revelations made by the same paper nine days ago that millions of dollars flew from Belgrade to Larnaca in sacks, between 1995 and 1998.
The information was attributed to a police officer and customers official.
The Central Bank has admitted to knowing about imports of dollars from Belgrade earmarked for “Yugoslavia’s needs” after 1995, when the UN embargo against the country was lifted, but denied knowing who received the money and what happened to it after that.
The Yugoslav Central Bank and The Hague War Crimes Tribunal are investigating claims that Cyprus was the main port of call for money laundered out of Belgrade between 1991 and 1994.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
