An investigation is pending on Thursday by Supreme Court judges in Nicosia into years of financial wastefulness which brought Cyprus to its knees last month. Newly elected President Nicos Anastasiades has been asked to examine the "criminal, civil and political" activities which took place from 2006 till the present, events which ultimately forced the closure of the island's second largest bank and imposed big losses on depositors.
Cyprus, part of the euro zone with a population of less than one million has been squeaking by for years with an inflated banking sector and the prospect of deep recession.
Cyprus's troubles came to a head last month with the closure of its Laiki Bank. Leaders of the euro zone surprised Cyprus by demanding a hefty levy on deposits to fund a recapitalization of the banking sector. This move lead to a two-week lockdown of the island's banks while the details were worked out. According to financial analysts the current situation offers Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank an "excellent justification" to cut interest rates further at Thursday's European Central Bank meeting. Financial market participants have frequently speculated on a possible ECB rate cut which till now has not happened. The modifications in the fiscal environment since the last meeting and the aftershock of the crisis in Cyprus and its possible long-term impact on all euro zone banks provide the ECB with an clear reason for cutting rates.
Several bank branches of Laiki have reopened but customers are still in the dark as to what has evolved. Former finance minister, Michael Sarris, who headed Popular Bank of Cyprus last year told reporters that "The public is entitled to have a full picture of what went wrong, what could have been done, where the mistakes were made, and by whom." Sarris stepped down from his position after only five weeks on the job, saying that it was impossible to remain since his actions would too be under scrutiny.
At the same time, the Supreme Court judges have been asked to investigate decisions taken by Cypriot banks which may involve the hoarding of huge quantities of Greek bonds "while other major banks were selling them." Cypriot banks lost about 4.5 billion euros when European Union leaders agreed in late 2011 to a Greek debt write off, designed to make the country's debt burden more sustainable.
The judges will also assess regulatory supervision, decisions by the banks to write off loans, the conditions under which the bailout was negotiated, fiscal policy soundness and whether central bank regulations were followed by commercial banks.