Christofias bashes at ‘bailout culprits’
NICOSIA
Greek Cyprus Dimitris President Christofias. AFP photo
Officials responsible for the near-collapse of Greek Cyprus’ banks that pushed the island to seek an international bailout must face justice, the country’s president said on Dec. 4.Dimitris Christofias said that Greek Cyprus wouldn’t have needed to resort to a bailout from the “troika” of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund if lenders hadn’t lost billions on bad Greek debt and loans and Central Bank oversight at the time those decisions were being made wasn’t so poor, The Associated Press reported.
“It is my position that the investigations conducted regarding the banking system should be vigorously pursued to the end and based on their results, blame should be apportioned and the culprits punished,” Christofias said in a televised address. “The Government and I personally will do everything in our power to see that truth and justice will prevail.”
Christofias said that stricter supervision and tighter control of banks is essential to prevent a repeat of what many see as “criminal mistakes and abuses.”
He said proof of this is the fact that as much as ?10 billion ($13 billion) will be needed to shore up banks while only a fraction of that is required to cover budget deficits over the bailout deal’s four-year implementation period.
Meenwhile, Greek Cyprus can wait until the end of January for a decision by the eurozone and the IMF on its bailout, the EU’s euro commissioner Olli Rehn said on Dec 4. Rehn said that agreement to activate a memorandum drawn up with the International Monetary Fund and the Cypriot government “may” be reached at a meeting on December 13, but “will” have been reached by the end of January.
