[ALBSA-Info] Cyprus denies knowledge of Serbian gold

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Cyprus denies knowledge of Serbian gold

NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cyprus contested new accusations yesterday that it helped 
make Slobodan Milosevic rich by allowing him to deposit on the island the 
proceeds of Yugoslav gold sales during his last days in power. 

Swiss authorities earlier this week said they would ask Cyprus and Greece to 
investigate the ownership of companies where proceeds were deposited from the 
sale of 173 kg of gold in Switzerland. 

"We do not know anything about this case," Cypriot government spokesman 
Michalis Papapetrou told Reuters. 

Yugoslav media have reported Milosevic sent the gold to Switzerland shortly 
before he was toppled last autumn, had it sold, then deposited the cash in 
Greece and Cyprus. 
Cyprus is often named as a conduit for funds siphoned out of Serbia, but 
authorities consistently deny it. 

Western diplomatic sources based in Cyprus say that the island has all the 
legal mechanisms in place to prevent money laundering. 

"They are doing everything right. We still have our doubts, but unfortunately 
no evidence. Suspect financial dealings are hard to prove anywhere," one 
said. 

Another source said the alleged transaction was unlikely since it would have 
coincided with the close scrutiny of Cyprus by The Hague war crimes tribunal, 
which in October asked the island to freeze the accounts of businesses with 
apparently close ties to Milosevic. 

Cypriots angered
The Cypriots have been angrily defending themselves for almost a decade 
against charges that Eastern European companies which set up shop on the 
island in the early 1990s were used to bust sanctions against Yugoslavia. 

Recently their irritation has been directed at reformed Serbs as well, 
suggesting a cooling in traditionally warm relations between the two. 

In January the Cyprus Foreign Ministry protested to Belgrade after Yugoslav 
central bank governor Mladjan Dinkic said that the island - along with Greece 
and Switzerland - was not cooperating with inquiries to track down funds 
siphoned overseas. 

"We have repeatedly urged those who make such allegations to provide us with 
evidence, but they have not," said Papapetrou. 

"We are ready to facilitate any investigation," he added. 

Last autumn the island's central bank froze the accounts of six companies at 
the behest of the UN war crimes tribunal. 

The businesses were suspected of having close ties with Milosevic. 

Cypriot authorities say nothing untoward has been found in the accounts, but 
they remain frozen pending the completion of inquiries by Hague tribunal 
prosecutor Carla del Ponte.