Orphanides is guilty of very little

CLEARLY Evdokimos Xenophontos was not a diligent reader of both the Cyprus and Sunday Mail or he would have mitigated his castigation of Athanasios Orphanides.

I have amongst my cuttings from the papers reports of the hearings of the Pikis Tribunal which leave very little that can be charged to the late governor of the Central Bank.

Particularly, I have a facsimile copy of the Trichet letter to Mr Christofias warning him of the consequences of his inaction, countersigned by Mr Orphanides.

Was not Mr Xenophontas, as a director of the Bank of Cyprus, equally responsible as other folks for carrying on ‘reckless banking practices like excessive investments in Greek government bonds, the aggressive expansion in property lending and sale of complex hydrid instruments’, most of which was beyond the control of the governor’s remit?

This was, after all, the period when Finance Minister Shiarly made promises to his counterparts in Frankfurt and was told by Mr Christofias on his return that he made financial policy, not the mandarins.

Maurice Sokel, Paphos

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.