State’s appeal against BoC acquittals comes to a close

Having heard closing arguments, the supreme court on Monday postponed to a later date delivering a judgement on the appeal filed by the state against the prior acquittal of two former senior Bank of Cyprus executives.

The state is appealing the acquittal of Andreas Eliades and Yiannis Kypris over the handling of Greek government bonds that eventually caused the lender huge losses.

In December last year the criminal court had cleared the two of charges relating to alleged market manipulation by falsifying the lender’s 2010 annual report.

Eliades and Kypris were accused of conspiring to reclassify the bank’s holdings in Greek bonds – with an effective date of April 1, 2010 – with intent to defraud investors.

The bonds were reclassified in a manner as to indicate the bank had suffered fewer losses than it actually did, conveying a better picture overall of the lender’s financials.

In turn, this resulted in the stock value being listed higher than it would otherwise have been – a move which state prosecutors believe is tantamount to market manipulation.

Meanwhile the case before the criminal court continues for the other defendants: Christis Hadjimitsis, Nicolas Karidas, Christodoulos Patsalides, Eliza Livadiotou and Despina Kyriakidou.

The next hearings in the criminal trial are to take place on April 18 and 19.

On June 1, 2017 all the defendants had pleaded not guilty to charges of forgery, market manipulation, keeping false accounts and conspiracy to defraud.

 

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.