President Christodoulides presides over meeting on UK and USA sanctions

President Nikos Christodoulides presided over a meeting at the Presidential Palace on the sanctions that have been imposed by the USA and UK on Cypriot natural and legal entities, in connection with assisting Russian nationals hide their assets.

Following the meeting, Government Spokesman Konstantinos Letympiotis told the press that the President has asked for a roadmap of the actions that need to be taken.

“(Christodoulides) reiterated the clear message that our country’s credibility must be protected, and that any deviations from the EU sanctions will not be tolerated,” said Letympiotis. “We were also pleased to be informed about the British High Commission’s statement, which applauds the Republic of Cyprus for its cooperation following the State Department’s announcement a few days ago.”

According to the government’s spokesman, all of the state’s services and competent authorities have coordinated and communicated with the relevant authorities in the UK and USA, on a technocratic as well as political level, in a bid to find the fastest and most efficient channels for the relevant data to be relayed to the Law Office of the Republic for review.

“Furthermore, the Governor of the Central Bank has said that the banking institutions have proceeded to freeze the bank accounts of the natural and legal entities that were included in the lists and he also said that the European Central Bank believes that Cyprus has taken huge strides in recent years and is happy with the steps the Republic of Cyprus has taken,” said Letympiotis.

Over the past few years, some 43,000 shell companies have shut down in Cyprus, 123,000 bank accounts have been closed and of today’s total deposits in the Cypriot banking system, just 2.2% belong to Russian residents, he said.

The President was also informed about the process to establish a National Sanctions Implementation Unit, which will have the technocratic support of the corresponding service in the UK, said Letympiotis.