The 2024 budget will include a €50m appropriation for the fund's reserve
The hope that at the beginning of 2024 the first disbursement from the Solidarity Fund will be made to those affected by the decisions of the Eurogroup in the context of the rescue of the Cypriot economy in 2013, expressed the head of the Securities Holders Association, Stavros Giallouridis, adding that in his budget 2024 will include a credit of €50 million for the fund's reserve.
In statements following a meeting of the Association's delegation with the President of the Republic, at the Presidential Palace, Mr. Giallouridis also mentioned that by the end of the year a digital platform will be put into operation in order for interested parties to submit applications, so that the amount can be verified, the which, according to Mr. Giallouridis, pre-election was estimated at around €2 billion.
It is noted that the Solidarity Fund has a reserve of €110 million.
“Today we discussed again what the President of the Republic had told us before the election, the issue of the Solidarity Fund will be operational by the end of the year and the issue of the platform will be finished and we will finally know exactly the amount that must be given back to the beneficiaries , to the holders of securities and to the shareholders and to the shareholders”, said Mr. Giallouridis in his statements, expressing the hope that by the end of the year this process will be finished and the platform will be operational, so that the applications can be made and the disbursement of the funds will begin first amounts back to the beneficiaries.
When asked if they have been informed about the percentage of the compensation that will be given to them, Mr. Giallouridis said that hopefully the disbursement will finally start, that the water will enter the gutters and I hope there will be full restoration “because the robbery has been done to us by known criminals”.
“We will not discount, we have been robbed of a lifetime of toil and sweat, we had deposited it in our banks, not in the Seychelles, not in Switzerland and not in exotic destinations,” he said .
Asked if money will be deposited into the fund, which has an accounting balance, he said that he hopes “the numbers will become real and we expect at least another €50 million to enter the state budget”.
“It will we wanted more so that they could be integrated with the rest and the state land and finally proceed with disbursements, I want to hope early 2024”, he added.
As he said, pre-election estimates spoke of a total compensation of around €2 billion, adding that he himself has reservations because this amount was calculated in “quick ways”.
“Because if it turns out that it is much more, €7, €8, €9 billion, but we knew before the election, then we are talking that it will be ours again after 300 years,” he added, noting that if the amount is more than €2 billion, there should be an increase in the amount included in the state budget.
Nilization of court costs
At the same time, Mr. Giallouridis said that they asked the President of the Republic to speak with the Legal Service, in order to nullify the requirements to the holders of securities, regarding lawsuits against the Republic (Government and CBC) in the Courts, which, as he said , they asked them to withdraw.
As he mentioned, while they had initially urged them to file lawsuits in the Courts, they then asked them to withdraw them and now, they are being asked by the Legal Service to pay court fees of €1,500 to € 1,600 each.
“It is a shame for the state to push us to file a lawsuit, for the state to ask us to withdraw our lawsuits under the companies law and to threaten us with quotations if we don't pay €1,500 – €1,600 each holder of securities to the state to the General Prosecutor's Office then they will take measures against us”, he said.
According to IMF data, the total amount of securities that were converted into shares (zeroed) in Bank of Cyprus and former Laiki Bank amounted to €1.4 billion, an amount that also includes institutional investors.
