The Cyprus Mail, the oldest daily English newspaper in Cyprus is covering the fact that former Laiki Bank head Andreas Vgenopoulos and Marfin Investment Group (MIG) CEO Efthimios Bouloutas have filed six lawsuits with the Nicosia district court against the chairwoman of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) Demetra Kalogirou, according to a statement issued by MIG on Monday.
Vgenopoulos has publicly expressed his disdain for Kalogerou on many occasions, following a barrage of fines totaling €7 million imposed last April by the watchdog on the Bank of Cyprus and Laiki Bank, and several bank officials, for misleading disclosure of the two banks’ holdings in Greek bonds, including a €705,000 fine imposed on Vgenopoulos himself.
The former banker has long accused Kalogirou of incompetence and even called for the attorney general to launch a probe against her.
This was after she had sent him a letter asking him to provide her with evidence backing his claim that Michalis Sarris – his replacement as Laiki boss from January to August 2012 after the bank was nationalized – had intentionally lied in public about the lender’s recapitalization prospects.
The Greek financier wrote off her inquiry as an attempt to “cover her lack of action” and referred her to the attorney general for the requested evidence.
“In any case you were obligated to monitor the market and ensure its smooth operation, while the events I have reported to you repeatedly, verbally during the second half of 2012, and in writing on October 3, 2013 occurred under your watch, it is therefore inconceivable that today, some two years later, you are asking me to furnish specific information,” he wrote back before making both letters public.