Greece asked details on bank transfer involving ex CBC chief’s daughter

AUTHORITIES have sent a request to Greece for information regarding a €1.0 million payment made by a Greek ship owner into an account belonging to a company headed by the daughter of former Central Bank (CBC) governor Christodoulos Christodoulou, it emerged yesterday.

The money had been paid in July 2007 by Michalis Zolotas to the company of the former governor’s daughter Athina Christodoulou, less than two months after her father left the post of CBC governor.

The story regarding the payment was broken by daily newspaper Politis although it is understood that Cypriot police and the anti-money laundering unit had been looking into the case before the report came out.

And investigators have now sent an official request to Greek authorities for more information on the transfer.

The former governor said there was nothing wrong or illegal and he had nothing to hide.

He welcomed the investigation, noting that the company offered consultancy services to a number of clients.

Politis said the money was deposited for an unknown service provided by Athina Christodoulou’s company to Zolotas, who the paper claimed was a “friend and close associate” of former Laiki strongman Andreas Vgenopoulos

According to the paper, the Cypriot consultancy company was set up in June 2006, and had Athina Christodoulou registered as shareholder and director.

The transfer in question was allegedly made to the company’s Athens-based bank account in July 2007.

Around two years later, the €1m plus interest was then allegedly transferred to an account in Laiki Bank.

In February 2010, reported Politis, control of the company passed on to the father.

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.