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Georghadji issue on hold

14/10/2015 10:04
The process for the possible termination of the Central Bank’s Governor Chrystalla Georghadji has remained on the shelf of pending issues for seven months now, as information leaking has the legal service still waiting for the presidency’s "signal".

The presidency avoids referring to the matter officially while unofficially, it points to the general prosecutor, despite the unprecedented hype it made in March for the removal of Mrs. Georghadji.

The governor was accused of conflict of interest due to the involvement of the legal firm of her estranged husband, which also employed her daughter, in court cases of the former President of Laiki Bank Andreas Vgenopoulos.

She was also accused by President Anastasiades of changing the relevant provision in her contract regarding the chapter of "conflict of interest".

Last March the president demanded by the Attorney General of the Republic to examine the data and activate the constitutional provisions for her removal.

Since then the case has not progressed as the legal department has not yet proceeded to the submission of the case to the Supreme Judicial Council, which is responsible for examining requests for the dismissal of state officials.

The recent dismissal of assistant general prosecutor by the supreme judicial council did not give the necessary impetus to the case of Georghadji, despite the fact that the case of Rikkos Erotokritou led to establishing operating rules of the Board.

Legal circles estimate that the case of Erotokritou is not comparable to that of Mrs. Georghadji and that any referral of the president’s request to the top court will have a different outcome.

They think that it is difficult to establish a case against Mrs. Georghadji even if it turns out that there is a conflict of interest.

The position of the Cypriot government, which led the previous CB governor to resignation, is not an easy one.

The ECB has expressed its discontent to Nikos Anastasiades several times regarding issues that put the independence of the CB into question.

Mrs. Georghadji, who during the last months abstains of public appearances and statements, joined the government in 1981 and has completed about 400 months of service.