Mr. Mario Draghi,
President
The European Central Bank (ECB)
Dear Mr. President,
Re: First Bail-in in Europe and its catastrophic effects on the lives of 10,000 European families
Before addressing the above issue, we would like to introduce our Association ΣY.KA.ΛA - Laiki Bank Depositors’ Association, an association which was established further to the unfair
implementation of the bail-in directives that resulted in the unprecedented ‘confiscation’ of the bank deposits of innocent European (mostly Cypriot) Citizens.
We are taking the opportunity to congratulate you for your policy and attitude as President of ECB, towards the Greek banking system, which is not to proceed with a bail-in of bank deposits above any amount for the deposits left in Greek banks. You are perfectly right in mentioning that it is unfair to proceed and ‘confiscate’ the deposits of European citizens who left their lifetime savings in Greek banks (and supported the local economy and banking system), as compared to a great number who transfered their savings outside Greece.
Unfortunately, this unfair confiscation happened in Cyprus in March 2013. As you already know, the depositors in Laiki Bank, in Cyprus, have lost 100% of their deposits above 100,000 euro,
whereas at the same time the European citizens of the UK and Greece (where Laiki Bank had branches) lost nothing and were actually protected! Isn’t that discrimination? Why haven’t we
received the same treatment?
We all witnessed this European “crime” taking place with the excuse that Eurogroup/Europe wanted to punish the Russian oligarchs and all those who were engaged in moneylaundering/
illegal activities!! One of course could argue if this objective has indeed been accomplished and if there has been any evidence that this practice was actually taking place in the banking sector of Cyprus. Has anyone in Europe taken the initiative to assess the collateral damages and how many innocent European (Cypriots only) citizens have actually paid the price?
As an association we have met with all local political parties, the Governor of the Cyprus Central Bank (previous and current), the Minister of Finance, the President of the Republic, even some “non-top” Troika representatives who visited Cyprus. Everybody throws the blame on somebody else.
Dear Mr. President,
The amount ‘confiscated’ from the depositors of Laiki Bank seems to have been confiscated by the Central Bank of Cyprus.
We believe that you are also informed that even though more than two years have passed since the execution of the ‘bail-in’ in March 2013, and despite the great effort that has been exerted by the Cypriot government in restoring trust in the Cypriot banking system, the truth is that this has not been achieved. This can be verified by the continuous decrease in the deposits held in Cypriot banks over this period. It is obvious that the citizens are disappointed both by the political system in Cyprus as well as by the local banking system, by the Central Bank of Cyprus and by the European Central Bank.
We would, therefore, like to appeal to you as the President of the European Central Bank so that you can appoint somebody or a team who can meet with us and exchange ideas on how to remove the current injustice.
We are sure that as an honest man, you would take all the necessary measures which will result in the removal of the current injustice imposed on a big number of European citizens in Cyprus.
Yours sincerely
Adonis Papaconstantinou
On behalf of the Board of Directors of
ΣY.KA.ΛA - Laiki Bank Depositors’ Association Board