Cyprus Mail www.cyprus-mail.com
Friday, February 1, 2013
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Shiarly rubbishes ‘dirty money’ slurs Finance minister quizzed by Dutch lawmakers on Russian deposits By Elias Hazou
F
INANCE Minister Vassos Shiarly was yesterday confronted with some of the misinformation recently being bandied about Europe in relations to Russian deposits, and money laundering in Cyprus. Shiarly was on a mission to the Netherlands to debunk accusations that the island is a money-laundering and tax haven – allegations that could jeopardise the indebted island’s request for a rescue package for which European taxpayers would foot the bill. The minister was quizzed by skeptical lawmakers at the finance committee of the Dutch parliament in the Hague, some of whom have joined their German counterparts in questioning the wisdom of approving a bailout for Cyprus. During a question and answer session following his address to the committee, Shiarly was asked by one MP about the €2.5 billion Russian loan for Cyprus approved in 2011. He told them there was no “hidden agenda” with regards to the loan. This is a totally pure, totally commercial loan,” he said. Another Dutch MP asked him if it were true that Cyprus banks held €150 billion in deposits. Shiarly called this a gross exaggeration. He said that deposits actually total €70 billion. Domestic deposits account for €45 billion, he said, whereas less than €30
billion was from foreign depositors, of which €15 billion was from Russian depositors. Addressing the allegations of money laundering, Shiarly repeated that Cyprus had nothing to hide. He said inspectors from both the International Monetary Fund and other organisations, such as Moneyval of the Council of Europe, had recently been to the island and given Cyprus high scores vis a vis compliance with anti-money-laundering measures. “We’ve done everything that was requested,” Shiarly told Dutch MPs. “We are very understanding of sensitivities in certain areas. We will leave it to them. We don’t put pressure on our partners.” “If someone suggests that they [inspectors] return to the island, I would say: ‘Come tomorrow, today even, we are ready, we have nothing to hide.” Cyprus has been in the spotlight after certain EU leaders suggested investment flows between Russia and Cyprus are disproportionate, creating the suspicion that laundering may be behind the transactions. It was precisely these notions that Shiarly sought to dispel yesterday. On the sharing of information for tax purposes, the finance minister said he had personally instructed authorities here to release data within 10 days from the date of request, even
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UK burglars steal 10,000 stamps from 95-year-old BURGLARS have stolen a collection of 10,000 stamps from the home of a 95-yearold British man, leaving him mourning the loss of his “life’s work”. West Midlands Police said the collection, amassed since the 1930s, was stolen during a break-in in the Sharman’s Cross area of Solihull between January 17 and 20.
SCHOOLBOY HOBBY
Scores of angry investors pushed their way into the Bank of Cyprus headquarters in Nicosia yesterday, some managing to get through the guarded lobby into several offices where pieces of furniture were sent flying FULL STORY PAGE 3
The victim, who had been enjoying a short break away, does not want to be named publically, but is nonetheless known to have collected stamps from the time that he was a schoolboy. His collection includes six albums containing British First Day Covers and around 4,000 unused stamps dating from the 1970s. Detective Constable Lucinda Wilson, of Solihull CID, said: “We’ve made inquiries with local dealers and antiques stores and are particularly keen to hear from anyone who may have been offered all or part of the collection for sale. “There are thousands of stamps in the collection but it’s not worth a vast amount of money and, of course, there’s a very limited market available for those responsible to try and sell them on. “The victim is truly devastated at losing his stamp albums so we’re also asking the people who took them to do the decent thing and return them.” A gold Rolex watch was also taken by the burglars who broke into the property through a patio door.