CENTRAL Bank Governor Christodoulos Christodoulou yesterday categorically denied any involvement in business dealings between his daughter and commercial banks over a new institute set up for the training of banking staff.
The governor released a statement yesterday rejecting claims that a conflict of interest had arisen through his close relationship with major shareholders of the company running the institute. He also denied putting pressure on bankers to accept the academic qualifications of the institute and threatened legal action against Politis newspaper for printing the allegations in yesterday’s issue.
The paper questioned the ethics of a company closely connected to the governor through family ties gaining economic benefit from financial institutions that come under his control through the Central Bank.
Politis alleged that Christodoulou’s wife and daughter hold a 44 per cent share in a new institute set up to train banking staff, for which commercial banks are obliged to pay a major proportion of the fees.
According to Politis, Christodoulou’s daughter Athina holds a 99.9 per cent share of a private company and his wife, Maro, the remainder. The company, AAVK Promotions Ltd, holds a 44 per cent share in the Institute Banking of Studies (IBS). The union of bank employees, ETYK, also holds a five per cent share in the institute. This new institute, working in co-operation with the American Institute of Banking (AIB), will provide seminars to banking staff from this October.
The paper reports that up to recently these seminars were offered exclusively by private colleges working in co-operation with Manchester University, which provided graduates with the professional diploma, ACIB, from the Chartered Institute of Bankers. A limited number of employees with university degrees and excellent knowledge of English would apply yearly for this diploma.
According to the report, the new diploma offered by IBS is conducted in Greek and accepts employees with high school leaving certificates.
The new course is seen as very appealing to bank employees since the acquisition of a diploma offers exam training leave, wage increases and zero interest loans. Up to 1,200 employees have registered for the new course, said Politis.
Commercial banks reportedly put up a large share of the costs, reported to be around £4,500 per employee, and offer trainees zero-interest loans for paying the remainder.
The paper reported that banks would be paying up to three million pounds for the courses, which are actively promoted by the bank employees’ union.
In his statement yesterday, Christodoulou described the claims as groundless and biased. He categorically denied any involvement in the professional activities of his daughter, arguing she had every legal right to conduct business activities in the community. The “groundless claims” that he was connected to this in any way were described as a “deplorable fabrication”.
The governor also denied the “monstrous claim” that he pressured Cyprus Bankers’ Association head Michalis Erotocritou to accept and recognise the diploma offered by the new institute, describing the allegation as “vile slander”.
Christodoulou said the paper was launching a wholehearted attack against him, referring to a caption in last week’s edition expressing doubt on his intelligence.
The governor said he would not succumb to such an attack, the basis of which, he claims, comes from his public rejection of the Annan plan during last April’s referendum.
“I respect the position of the paper, which supported the ‘yes’ vote passionately, but I don’t give it the right to attempt to annihilate my morality under any pretext,” he said.
The only issue of ethics concerned the paper, which tried to misinform the public, stain his character, and reduce his status and prestige, he charged. Christodoulou said he has instructed his lawyers to defend his legal rights, hinting at a lawsuit against Politis.
