Gold Magazine February - March 2013, Issue 23 | Page 37

interview

MONEY

LAUNDERING?
DON’T BE

RIDICULOUS!
FORMER PRESIDENT GEORGE VASSILIOU
SAYS THAT ACCUSATIONS AGAINST CYPRUS
ARE UNFOUNDED AND UNFAIR. By Kyproula Papachristodoulou

I

t is always enjoyable to talk with
George Vassiliou. He possesses
the wisdom of someone who
has enjoyed both political and
business success throughout his
life, his positions are clear and his
views are invariably realistic. In this exclusive
interview with Gold, Vassiliou says among
other things that recent money laundering
accusations against Cyprus are not only
unjustified but closely related to political
developments in Germany.
Gold: Cyprus has recently come under
attack from the European - and in
particular German - media for what are
alleged to be extensive money laundering
activities. On the other hand, there
appears to be no proof and no facts are
given to back up the accusations. Why
do you think this is happening?
George Vassiliou: My personal assessment
of the situation is that the whole issue of
money laundering accusations against
Cyprus is related to pre-election attacks
against Mrs Merkel. In my opinion it has
nothing to do with Cyprus. And as you say,

they have no proof to present and no facts
to justify their claims. It seems that there
have been rumours circulating in Europe
about money laundering in Cyprus, with
some people concentrating on the Russians.
This, I think, is partly related to the fact
that Cyprus is being used by Russian
businessmen as a base for their companies.
People have to bear in mind, though, that
the Russians transfer their money to Cyprus
perfectly legally, they establish companies
here and then they transfer money back to
Russia and invest it in various legal activities
and companies. Cyprus appears to be the
biggest investor in Russia but the fact is
that investments are channeled into various
legal businesses and not into “monkey
businesses”.
Gold: The fact that Cyprus is the
biggest investor in Russia because of
Russian reinvestment can hardly justify
money laundering accusations or even
suspicions.
G.V.: The fact we are talking about Russian
money and not British, for example, irritates
some people. Also some of them do not

like the fact that it is not Luxembourg or
Germany or the Netherlands or London,
for example, that is handling the Russians
but it’s Cyprus.
Gold: Has there been any action or lack
of action on behalf of Cyprus that might
have given rise to the recent allegations?
G.V.: I would say that the minor
delay in negotiating and finalizing the
Memorandum of Understanding with the
Troika gave the opportunity to some to
raise the issue of money laundering. But
they have to understand that Cyprus is not
a money laundering centre or a tax haven. It
is a low-tax jurisdiction such as Ireland and
Luxembourg.
Gold: What kind of safeguards do we
implement in Cyprus to avoid money
laundering?
G.V.: Cyprus has implemented a
comprehensive framework to combat
money laundering and terrorist financing
and it has repeatedly been evaluated by the
experts of Moneyval, based on the FATF
methodology and recommendations. We

THE INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT, FINANCE & PROFESSIONAL SERVICES MAGAZINE OF CYPRUS

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