Russian tycoon Vekselberg has no Cyprus bank accounts, his spokesman says

Russian tycoon Viktor Vekselberg has no bank accounts in Cyprus, his spokesperson said on Wednesday, commenting on a US Senate hearing the previous day which discussed the US Treasury’s sanctions on Russian individuals and companies.

“He never had accounts in Cyprus,” the spokesman was quoted as saying by Russia’s Tass news agency. “Certain companies affiliated to us do have accounts there, but none of the companies had significant funds deposited on those accounts.”

Back in April, the US had placed Vekselberg, owner of a 9.3 per cent stake in the Bank of Cyprus and the main shareholder, on a sanctions list targeting Russian companies, government officials and businessmen.

BoC subsequently closed the accounts.

According to Tass, Under Secretary of the US Treasury Sigal Mandelker said in a report for the Senate hearings on Tuesday that following April 6 Vekselberg’s accounts were frozen

Although Cyprus remains a jurisdiction that raises the US concerns in terms of money laundering, some progress has been achieved there, Mandelker said, according to Tass.

For example, “in May 2018, the Cyprus authorities issued a circular instructing its banks to address certain illicit finance risks from shell companies.”

US authorities also froze the accounts of another Russian tycoon, Oleg Deripaska, who has been granted Cypriot citizenship as part of a government’s scheme to attract investors.

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.