The need to speed up the litigation of a financial dispute between a borrower and a banking institution and not the suspension of sales, said the Governor of the Central Bank, Konstantinos Herodotou, warning that any change in the law of sales will lead to the country.
Mr. Herodotus' warnings were made at the meeting of the parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs, which started and completed the article discussion of the revised bill submitted by the Ministry of Justice to amend the Law on Courts, in order to create special jurisdiction at the provincial level with special jurisdiction. which will adjudicate financial disputes between the borrower and the bank, which will include cases of abusive clauses and over-indebtedness, as well as divestiture procedures. On February 17, the bill will be put to a vote in order to pave the way for the Plenary to vote.
According to the General Director of the Ministry of Justice, Louis Panagi, the revised bill aims to cover vulnerable groups of the population, while in addition to the first debtor, it includes the mortgage borrower and guarantors, as well as holders of securities. The bill also provides for the training of judges who will be called to adjudicate these disputes. However, the bill does not provide for the time of adjudication of disputes, but speaks of a reasonable period of time.
“We believe that with the passage of the bill, a great impetus will be given to the adjudication of financial disputes, for the benefit of all those affected,” said Mr. Panagi.
On behalf of the Ministry of Finance, Dionysis Dionysiou explained that for the interpretation of vulnerable groups was selected the list of persons used by the Cyprus Electricity Authority for special rating 08, which includes, among others, low-income low-income recipients, EU recipients , people with conditions such as multiple sclerosis, which affect about 35,000 people.
“If someone has closed arteries you open, you do not cut the leg”
However, members of the committee, such as the MPs of EDEK, Solidarity and Ecologists, Kostis Efstathiou, Michalis Giorgallas and Giorgos Perdikis, were in favor of amending the Law on Transfer and Mortgage Law in order to freeze the disputes until the disputes are settled. and banking institution. The discussion also raised the issue of issuing a temporary decree suspending the sale, while reservations were expressed regarding the limitation of the scope of coverage of the law to the vulnerable.
Responding, the Governor of the CBC stressed that once the diagnosis is correct, ie the delay in the administration of justice “we should not go to something that will put us in adventures” and explained that by speeding up the trial of cases to give protection to the vulnerable.
“If we touch on the issue of sales we will have adventures, and I want to be clear”, he said and added characteristically: “If a patient has a closed artery you bypass (open) you do not cut his leg”.
Saying that any change in the context of divestitures endangers the world's deposits, Mr. Herodotus noted that any change in such issues should be reported to the European Central Bank and that banks will need funds possibly due to new requirements.
“The problem is the speed (in the adjudication of cases), of not making other changes to other laws that will bring Europe upon us,” he said.
Regarding the issue of targeting the vulnerable, Mr. Herodotus expressed reservations about further delays in the process if the coverage is expanded and expressed the view that to start with the vulnerable and to consider enlargement along the way.
And the President of DISY warned that we should not “inflate the country again”
“The goal is to get a court decision before the sale is over. “But if the sale stops, we will sink, they will unplug us from Frankfurt and we will run,” he said.
In statements after the session, the Chairman of the committee, George Georgiou, explained that the bill targets vulnerable groups in order to give them immediate access to justice and to protect themselves from redress. “The goal is to provide legal and judicial assistance to this sector of the population that is the most vulnerable,” he said.
Regarding the possibility of imposing a timetable in the trial, Mr. Georgiou said that if and if this proposal is concretized and submitted, it will be considered by February 17, the committee will always discuss it in cooperation with the competent bodies, the executive and all involved. .
“Our goal is to find a common component that achieves the goal of this legislation, a goal that should be shared by both the executive and the legislature,” he said.
On behalf of AKEL, Andreas Passiourtidis said that the bill does not protect a few thousand of our fellow citizens who need protection and have their main residence and small business as collateral for their loans.
Kostis Efstathiou also said that protection should not be limited to vulnerable groups, but also to the borrower whose main residence or small business premises should be protected, adding that the Court should have substantive powers and have the power to suspend sale. As he said, an amendment will be tabled so that the Court can issue a temporary injunction suspending the sale.
Michalis Giorgallas, however, said that the revised bill is significantly improved, adding that the goal of Solidarity is “to protect borrowers from the arbitrariness and unbridled appetite for speculation of both banks and credit companies.” He also noted that it should be ensured that the sale does not proceed during the trial.
On behalf of the Ecologists, George Perdikis said that without the suspension of the sales the whole regulation “will be a free gift”. “Especially since what was revealed today concerns a very small group of borrowers”, he said, adding that the Governor of KTK and President of DISY “restored the threats for Asia Minor catastrophe” in case of freezing of the sales.
Philenews / ΚΥΠΕ / ΓΣ