Cyprus-Forum.com

[humanist]

Turkish Cyprus says it's not a ‘crime haven'
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) by no means tolerates crime and criminals, Turkish Cypriot Foreign Minister Turgay Avc? said yesterday, in a bid to shed the KKTC's image as a haven for crooks with new laws on money laundering and casinos.



The KKTC is recognized only by Turkey and has no extradition treaty with other countries; hence it has gained a reputation as a safe refuge for criminals, especially from Britain, Cyprus' ex-colonial ruler. The efforts of Turkish Cypriot authorities to change this image are being undermined by Cyprus' decades-old ethnic partition.

"The KKTC can never be a country where fugitives or persons who are wanted for money laundering hide," Avc? told the Anatolia news agency, complaining of the absence of legal cooperation with the Greek Cypriots.

Avc? said they have called on Greek Cypriot leaders for cooperation in preventing crime and in many other spheres; yet the Greek Cypriot side has not been cooperating with them in any respect.

Most of the world, including the European Union, recognizes the Greek Cypriot government in the south as the sole legal representative of the whole of Cyprus, but its control does not run north of the UN-policed Green Line that bisects the island.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey intervened following a failed coup by supporters of uniting the island with Greece. Ankara does not recognize the Greek Cypriot government, which entered the European Union in May of 2004 as the official representative of the entire island. In 1983 the KKTC unilaterally declared its independence, though it remains recognized only by Ankara.

Turkish Cypriots are not able to exercise the EU rights granted to Greek Cypriots, and international peace efforts have been virtually frozen since Greek Cypriots voted against a UN reunification plan shortly before joining the EU.

"We have no police cooperation with the Greek Cypriots. They say to us: 'You don't have a police force; you don't have courts. You are illegal'," Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat stated this week in an interview with the Reuters news agency. "Even when we had bird flu here in Cyprus, there was no cooperation. Zero, nothing," said Talat.

Greek Cypriots fear that dealing with the KKTC could lead to de facto recognition of an entity they regard as illegal. The KKTC is barred from Interpol and other international crime-fighting organizations. Over the decades various people sought by the police have fled to the KKTC, including Turkish Cypriot Asil Nadir, the tycoon behind the collapsed Polly Peck business empire whom Britain wants to try on fraud charges.

But Talat said the KKTC was working closely with British and other police forces and that its reputation as a sanctuary for criminals on the run was "greatly exaggerated." The new money laundering law and a planned casinos law will help bolster the battle against organized crime, he added.

The KKTC, home to fewer than 200,000 people and subject to international trade restrictions, boasts more than 40 casinos, an important part of its draw for visitors from Turkey and southern Cyprus, where gambling is prohibited.

British newspapers have taken a greater interest in the KKTC after unconfirmed reports that a man wanted in connection with Britain's biggest ever cash heist may be hiding in northern Cyprus. Turkish Cypriot officials say the reports are untrue.

Sean Lupton and possibly other members of his gang are suspected of smuggling suitcases full of cash out of Britain after the February 2006 heist, a 53 million pound ($103.5 million) raid on a cash depot in Kent, southeast England. Police recovered only 21 million pounds; the remainder is still missing.

It has been proven with documents that none of those gang members entered the KKTC, Avc? said, calling on the British police for cooperation if they have any documents concerning the issue, while also complaining that the British media were trying to portray the KKTC as "a crime haven and a place for money laundering."


13.02.2008

Today's Zaman with wires Ankar

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detay ... &bolum=102

[tessintrnc]

The goverment have just enacted a new money laundering bill that requires Financial agents and also Lawyers to inform the "Financial Information Unit" of any transactions totalling $10,000 (US). However , last Friday members of the Lefkoşa bar staged a demonstration outside the presidents office and Parliament against the new law. Why? "We cannot accept this illogical law for us to be government agents grassing on our Clients" !!!!

The new bill will bring the TRNC money laundering laws in line with rest of Europe, what I don't get is, if the transaction is LEGAL, whats the problem in reporting it? Come on TRNC wake up - you want to join the EU??? Then get rid of the corruption - maybe starting with the Lawyers???

[Nikitas]

The EU has a host of these little details that eventually force people to wake up. No more offshore tax shelters, no more numbered accounts, no nominee shareholders. You will all be amazed to see who the really rich are once the regulations start to bite and people have to declare their money and assets. It happened in Greece and in Cyprus, it will happen in the north too.

[zan]

More control will be gained when the isolation and hardships are lifted.....

[zan]

What do stock market victims and Amathus landowners have in common?
By Jacqueline Theodoulou
WITH the outcome of tomorrow’s presidential elections anyone’s guess, some organised groups are urging the public not to vote incumbent President Tassos Papadopoulos back into power.

The victims of the 1999 Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) scandal pride themselves in being the most “anti-Tassos” association in Cyprus; but they are not alone.
The Co-ordinating Committee for the Amathusians’ Struggle, representing Amathus village residents who lost land during the government’s expropriation to preserve the site of Ancient Amathus, yesterday threatened to publish a DVD in which Papadopoulos says they should basically forget about compensation.
Temporary workers in the public sector have also spoken out about their gripes with the incumbent, angry at his decision to reject a law passed by Parliament last year satisfying their demands.

The spokesman for the Contract Workers’ Co-ordinating Committee, Andreas Ktorides, said his colleagues were being blackmailed into voting for Papadopoulos or risk losing their jobs – though an announcement co-signed by four of the Committee’s members yesterday pointed out that this was not a view shared by the entire sector.
“We are calling on our colleagues public contract workers to avoid actions and statements that could prove harmful to our demands, to vote freely for the candidate of their preference, and we are awaiting, independent of who is elected President, the support of all political powers for a swift resolution to our problem,” the announcement read.

But possibly the most anti-Papadopoulos campaign – beating even that of his opposing candidates – has come from PASECHA: the Cyprus Stock Exchange Investors’ Association.

“The CSE investors are without a doubt the biggest victims of Tassos Papadopoulos’ corrupt state, not just because he fooled them in 2003 when he was asking for their vote, but because he has covered up the CSE scam via Attorney-general Petros Clerides and his then assistant Maria Malachtou and through his law firm in trials against the investors and in favour of the banking establishment.”
This is just one extract from one of the dozens of announcements sent out by PASECHA before and during this pre-election period.

The association’s president, Omiros Alexandrou, was yesterday keen to point out that PASECHA was not in favour of any of the presidential candidates, but they are definitely in favour of ousting Papadopoulos from power.
“If Tassos is re-elected it will be a catastrophe for our country,” Alexandrou said.
“Without wanting to tell the Cyprus public who to vote for in these elections, we are calling on the people to vote against Papadopoulos. As investors, we are certain that Tassos will destroy what is left of our country,” he added.
A recent PASECHA announcement says it all:
“Do not choose the continuation of scandals and corruption
“Do not choose the continuation of investors being dragged to court
“Do not choose the continuation of nepotism
“Do not choose the arrogance, the dictatorship and vindictiveness
“Do not choose the continuation of the manipulation of justice and the media.
“And the most important of all, do not choose the partition of our country
“Do not vote for Tassos Papadopoulos.”

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2008

[zan]

We have been under siege...What is your excuse???


AKEL says government ‘buying’ votes with army transfers
By Jacqueline Theodoulou
AKEL has claimed that the government has secured votes by facilitating a number of transfers in the National Guard.

The “scandal” was revealed yesterday by AKEL newspaper Haravghi, which quoted AKEL deputy Aristos Aristotelous saying this was an “unacceptable phenomenon” that had been going on for months, but even more so in the past two months.
He told the paper he had contacted the Defence Minister a few months back and informed him on the issue, but nothing had been done about it, neither by the Ministry nor the National Guard Chief.

Aristotelous said he felt the matter was very serious as it created a feeling of unfairness among NG conscripts and their parents.
Determined to address the issue, the AKEL deputy added that he would be presenting the matter for discussion to the House Defence Committee, where he would ask the relevant bodies to present in writing all the transfers that had taken place from November 1, 2007 until yesterday.

“I personally have my own data and witness reports, and I will submit them each with my own recommendations to the House Defence Committee, after I have been given information and explanations by the relevant bodies,” said Aristotelous.
Meanwhile, AKEL spokesman Andros Kyprianou has also claimed to have received complaints from workers in the public sector, who say they are being blackmailed into voting for incumbent President Tassos Papadopoulos.

Kyprianou’s statement followed those of temporary workers’ spokesman Andreas Ktorides and last week’s claims by DISY deputy Tasos Mitsopoulos. He too said he had received a number of complaints from public servants that there were being threatened and blackmailed.

“With anonymous phone calls and anonymous letters and notes they are trying to scare voters over their choices,” Kyprianou said on Thursday.
“At the same time, we have received complaints that promotions and appointments are taking place in the public service with synoptic procedures. These actions harm democracy and take us back decades,” he pointed out.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2008

[Nikitas]

With so much data out there it should not be hard to give a name and place to at least one of these scandalous transfers and promotions.

[Kifeas]

[Oracle]

We have been under siege...What is your excuse???

"Ninety-nine percent of all failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses."
George Washington Carver (1864 - 1943)

We don't have to make up excuses Zan ... because the RoC performs within the letter of International Law.

[Viewpoint]

We have been under siege...What is your excuse???

"Ninety-nine percent of all failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses."
George Washington Carver (1864 - 1943)

We don't have to make up excuses Zan ... because the RoC performs within the letter of International Law.

Just like a hijacked plane flies accorng to the law but is not the true owner of the plane, you stole our country.