Cabinet approves evidence database funds

The cabinet on Wednesday authorised the release of €663,000 for the next two years to cover the cost of creating a database that will assist investigators looking into the collapse of the economy.

The evidence database and review platform had been requested by investigators to assist the laborious and complicated task.

The database is the tool that will boost the effort of uncovering any crimes that eventually led to the collapse of the economy, an official statement said.

The volume of documents — printed and electronic — is such that studying and comparing them is near impossible to achieve without the help of technology.

There has been criticism over the speed of the investigation into the collapse, which saw one bank close and another recapitalised by seizing clients’ deposits.

The scope of the inquiry covers the banks’ expansion into Greece, bank corporate governance, the acquisition of Greek bonds, and how now-defunct Laiki Bank came to amass some €9bln in emergency liquidity, a liability since passed onto the Bank of Cyprus.

Cypriot banks lost about €4.5bln when European Union leaders agreed in late 2011 to a Greek debt write-down, designed to make that country’s debt burden more sustainable.