admincentral bank said.
It said the special administrator of Laiki Bank, Andri Antoniades, has obtained interim orders against Andreas Vgenopoulos, Efthimios Bouloutas, Kyriakos Magiras and Marfin Investment Group Holdings.
The orders, issued by Nicosia District Court, have already been served, the bank said in a statement.
“They consist of imperative orders for the global freezing of assets totalling 3,79 billion against Messrs Vgenopoulos and Bouloutas and 1,5 billion against Mr Magiras,” said the central bank.
“They also include orders for the disclosure of all the assets of the three aforementioned individuals as well as orders prohibiting Marfin Investment Group Holdings from making any payment or transfer in favour of the three aforementioned individuals,” it added.
The central bank did not elaborate on the reason for the assets freeze.
Bouloutas is a former Laiki CEO, while the other two are also former senior board members of the bank that crashed after its exposure to Greek debt was a key reason for Cyprus applying for a bail-out last year.
Greek businessman Vgenopoulos issued a statement on Friday saying he would contest the order — which he said had no validity outside Cyprus —on June 11. Greece’s Marfin Investment Group said it was taking legal action of its own against the Cyprus government, claiming US$1,07 billion in its lost investment in Laiki.
In a deal struck in March with international lenders, the cost of the Cyprus bail-out ballooned to 23 billion euros that included a bail-in from uninsured depositors.
Cyprus was forced to wind up failed lender Laiki and impose a massive levy on larger deposits in the Bank of Cyprus the island’s largest. BoC customers with deposits of more than 100 000 euros could lose up to 60 percent of those holdings.
Those in Laiki will have to wait years to see any of their money over 100 000 euros, after it was split into a good bank and bad bank — the good part being absorbed by BoC. — AFP.
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