SOUTH CYPRUS, A LAUNDERING CENTER

British daily Financial Times reported that South Cyprus had a risk of becoming a laundering center because the Greek Cypriot administration did not take the necessary measures. Pointing out that the Greek Cypriot side would start using EURO as its currency in January 2008, thus enter into “euro zone”, the newspaper noted that there was a concern that this would create “new opportunities” for money laundering in the European market.

In the article entitled “Cyprus risks being a laundering haven”, the Chairman of French Anti-Money Laundering Committee Roger Louis Cazalet referred to the history of money laundering in the Greek Cypriot side. He reminded that ‘the United Nations war crimes prosecutor office had found out that, when Slobodan Milosevic armed himself for war against Bosnia and Kosovo in the early 1990s he turned to a network of thousands of shadowy Yugoslav controlled front companies located in Cyprus. Continuing, he added: "Around the same time, Russian gangsters were actively laundering millions stolen during privatizations of state assets through fraudulent shell companies based in Nicosia. As part of the EU-entry process, Cyprus enacted a strict regulatory system in line with international standards however, the implementation of these reforms raises serious questions regarding the Cypriot Anti Money Laundering (AML) regime.”

The article also pointed out that suspicious money transfers had been identified in the Greek Cypriot financial sector outside banking and problems had arouse in their reporting.

The article noted that the fact that the lawyers and accountants were not liable to the anti-money laundering regulations; some suspicious actions under the name of customer secrecy were not examined and the lack of effective control regarding the company records, helped persons or companies who launder money to remain secret.

It was also stated that the Greek Cypriot administration should re-examine the companies in the territories under its control and fill the gaps regarding the implementation of the regulations, otherwise money launderers through thousands of shell companies would enter into euro zone.

 

TWO MORE MISSING PERSONS BURIED IN SOUTH CYPRUS

Greek Cypriot daily Fileleftheros reported that two more Greek Cypriot missing persons, who went missing in 1974 and their remains have been found and identified as a result of the excavations, were buried in South Cyprus on Sunday (29 July).

Fileleftheros pointed out that the remains of Andonis Georgiu Lambru (soldier) were buried in Paphos and the remains of Sotiriyu Drusiotis (commando) buried in Makedonitissa, South Nicosia.