Lawyers and accountants on tenterhooks as new list of US sanctions looms

Lists with the names of more Cypriot legal entities and natural persons which the USA have placed under sanctions, and which are anticipated to be made public imminently, are already in the hands of the Cyprus government.

The new list of UK sanctions made public on the morning of 19 May did not include any Cypriot entities.

Government Spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis confirmed this during comments to state television on the morning of 19 May, but said he could not go into further detail at the time. “Once the lists are made public we will be able to comment on it. There are legal entities of the Republic of Cyprus included,” he said.

Until then, lawyers and accountants are on tenterhooks, while at the same time at a political level, the Government, while still in the process of managing the unfavorable situation created by the first sanctions, both in terms of the country's name internationally and in relation to the consequences in the affected professional sectors, is now faced with the widening problem that has been created.

Meanwhile, the Registrar of Companies will accept requests from service providers to replace sanctioned persons with other persons, according to reliable sources, CNA has reported.

Cyprus Bar Association President Christos Clerides had told CNA that a law firm under sanctions, provided management consultant services to a large number of companies, placing its own lawyers or secretarial services in these companies and, given the sanctions, the banks had frozen the accounts of these companies, i.e. the clientele.

According to Clerides, in order to free themselves, the companies transferred the shares held by the office or lawyers of the office and filled out the forms in relation to the management counselors, the secretariat "in order to have nothing to do with the office so that they can unfreeze the accounts."

However, Irene Mylona-Chrysostomou, Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property requested, through the Ministry of Commerce, an opinion from the Law Office whether she is obliged to provide these changes. The opinion of the Law Office has been given on 12 May.

According to a reliable source, CNA reported, the changes will be accepted for companies that are not related to and not involved in the reasons that brought their providers into a status under sanctions.

The Registrar of Companies had also told CNA that by 17 May there had been around 500 requests, while many lawyers and accountants who will want to take over these companies are awaiting the final decision on how to handle the matter.

According to a reliable source, CNA also reported, intense diplomatic efforts are underway for the banks to come to an agreement with the US and UK authorities so as to unfreeze funds in order to pay for the salaries of the employees in those companies.

It is noted, however, that this is an issue for the banks and as a result the government cannot intervene.

(Sources: InBusinessNews, CNA)