Our View: Lack of clarity over movement of cash does not help island’s reputation

The authorities have not come out of the case involving the Ukrainian woman who brought large amounts of cash to Cyprus smelling of roses. Countless questions have been raised by the case, with the suspicion that police investigations began only after she reported that thieves had stolen her bag which contained €420,000 in cash.

After reporting to police that the money was stolen, the 31-year-old woman was arrested herself and appeared in court on Saturday, where a five-day remand order was issued in connection with a case of money laundering. Since last August the woman had visited the island some 15 times, declaring having about €400,000 on each visit; bringing a total of €6m to Cyprus over seven months.

Apparently, when the person with the money has documentation from the country of departure about the amount being carried there is little the customs department of Cyprus can do. When this documentation is issued by another EU member-state (Poland in this case) the Cyprus authorities are obliged to accept the transfer of the cash was lawful. This seems a bizarre rule considering the EU is so committed to fighting money laundering.

According to a report in Politis, quoting unnamed official sources, there were other individuals engaging in the same activity who were being watched. Where do these millions go? They cannot be deposited in a bank as the bank would require documentation to accept any cash deposit in excess of €5,000. Had customs issued documents so the money could be lawfully transferred to another EU member-state?

This is the question the authorities should have been asking long before the Ukrainian woman’s money was stolen on Friday. Perhaps it was, and the authorities chose not to disclose it. The Customs Department said on Tuesday that when a big cash amount is declared by someone on arrival to Cyprus, it automatically informs the anti-money laundering unit Mokas and if the amount is above €100,000 the police are also notified.

The Customs Department may have been doing its job correctly, but what have Mokas and the police done? On Tuesday, police spokesman Christos Andreou told the CyBC that authorities were aware of the activities of the Ukrainian woman but not her initial visits. This contradicts the Customs Department’s assertion that it notified the police when cash amounts higher than €100,000 were declared. Andreou also claimed that, at some point, the woman would have been arrested even if she had not reported the robbery.

We are still waiting for more clarity to help us understand what has actually been going on. This lack of clarity about the authorities’ actions does not exactly help the government’s stated objective to restore Cyprus’ reputation.