Former central banker governor said suing government for pension

Former Central Bank governor Panicos Demetriades, who received a €265,000 golden parachute from the government in exchange for resigning his post three years ahead of schedule in 2014 is suing for pension rights since his resignation, local daily Simerini reported on Tuesday.
According to the paper, Demetriades, 56, is not entitled to a pension as a retired government official until he turns 60.
But he has apparently decided to challenge whether he does, in fact, fall under the scope of the law on government officials, and sued the Central Bank for his pension for the 10 months since he left, totalling €13,500.
Demetriades’ annual pension entitlement will be €13,561.
Last May, the former governor received €265,000 to vacate his post, which was wired to the UK at his request.
The paper reported that the agreement included a waiver clause, by which Demetriades committed to no further claims from his employers other than the €265,000.
The finance ministry has engaged the State Treasury, while keeping Legal Services in the loop.
According to Simerini, for his two years as Central Bank governor, Demetriades was paid a sum of over €700,000, excluding pension rights.
His time at the Central Bank’s helm was marked by the historic March 2013 events, which crippled Cyprus’ once-booming banking system and threw the country into a deep recession.
His handling of the build-up to the banking collapse, as well as its aftermath, was a cause of continuous friction with the new government of Nicos Anastasiades, which came to office in shortly before the dramatic economic meltdown.
Months of negotiations for his departure culminated in the May 2014 agreement, which reportedly included immunity from prosecution.

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.