Law for co-op suits extended, deadline for tax returns moved to September

Parliament on Thursday amended a law allowing for civil lawsuits to be filed against former officers or executives of the now-defunct cooperative bank.

By a unanimous vote, following a terse debate, the plenum voted to amend the law governing the statute of limitations on actionable rights – extending by another 12 months the statute of limitations on civil liability.

Before the amendment, the statute of limitations for civil liability expired three years after the event in question – the event in this case being the shuttering of the cooperative bank in 2018.

The amendment was seen necessary as the window for filing civil lawsuits against cooperative officials was closing fast. No lawsuits in relation to the matter have been filed to date.

The amendment was a bill tabled by main opposition Akel.

Inevitably the discussion before the actual vote led to heated exchanges between Akel and the ruling Disy – triggering another round of recriminations around the reasons for the bank’s demise.

In 2018 the co-op agreed to sell its operations to Hellenic Bank after its failure to reduce its stock of non-performing assets practically forced it out of business.

The state-run co-op was sold for pennies on the dollar, resulting in massive losses for taxpayers.

In other business on Thursday, the House passed bills extending deadlines for filing tax returns due to the ongoing coronavirus situation.

Under one bill, the deadline for filing an income tax return by individuals (salaried employees and self-employed) for the tax year 2020, is transferred from July 31 to September 30, 2021.

Another bill concerned employers, with the tax filing deadline for 2020 pushed from February 28 to September 30, 2021.