THE government yesterday waved off claims by DIKO leader Nicholas Papadopoulos, who insisted chicanery was afoot in the coming shakeup at the Bank of Cyprus (BoC) board.
Papadopoulos asked why the only two persons slated to keep their post on the bank’s board are – as he claimed – clients of the President Anastasiades’ law firm.
Though not naming names, he was understood to be alluding to Vladimir Strzhalkovskiy, current vice chairman of the BoC board, who along with Ioannis Zographakis are expected to stay on.
The new shareholders of BoC – following a €1bn capital increase – have announced a list of candidates for the board ahead of the bank’s annual general meeting of shareholders, scheduled for November 20.
Strzhalkovskiy is believed to be a client of Nicos Chr. Anastasiades & Partners, a Limassol-based law firm founded by Anastasiades.
But a number of old directors, representing Russian depositors as well as local pension funds which received equity in the bank after their deposits were bailed-in, seem to be on the way out.
Papadopoulos claimed the government was pulling the strings at the bank, by using the indirect control it had – as he claimed – over legacy Laiki’s equity in BoC.
Legacy Laiki and its stock in BoC is under the control of an administrator.
“Are the clients of Mr. Anastasiades’ law firm more important that the pension funds and the representatives of the bailed-in depositors of Laiki?” the DIKO chief mused.
In another jibe he asked whether the Anastasiades administration would “maintain its hostile stance toward the Russian depositors of Bank of Cyprus, something which some MPs in the Russian parliament have alluded to?”
Hitting back, government spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos said this sounded like the pot calling the kettle black.
“It is high time that Mr Papadopoulos stopped invoking Russian depositors [as a smokescreen] to protect people who are closely associated with him on the board of Bank of Cyprus,” he said.
The spokesman was understood to be alluding to Marinos Yialelis, widely known to be a friend of the DIKO leader and one of the bank directors likely on their way out.
Far from Russian depositors being mistreated, he added, the funds these depositors lost in last year’s haircut at BoC were taken into account in the government’s cash-for-citizenship scheme.
What’s more, the spokesman said, Anastasiades cut off all ties to his law firm on taking office.
He also pointed out that the administrator of legacy Laiki is not answerable to the government, but rather to the Central Bank. Moreover, he added, BoC is a private concern and as such it is up to its shareholders to select their board directors.
“This is the last time the government deigns to address unfounded allegations from Mr Papadopoulos,” the spokesman added.
