Registrar receives green light to review sanctioned companies

Registrar of Companies Irini Mylona on Friday morning said her office has been greenlighted to proceed with examination of applications for personnel replacements received from companies caught up in the sanction lists fallout.

Speaking on CyBC’s morning programme, Mylona confirmed that around 500 to 600 companies were awaiting processing and that her office was assembling a team of experts to study the requests. The registrar refused to comment on the political angle of the matter.

Instructions received from the finance ministry on Thursday afternoon allowed for the processing of all companies, barring those with sanctioned natural entities included in the US and UK lists, the registrar said.

Some companies will therefore not be eligible for review at the moment, Mylona explained, however, this only applies to a small minority. The majority of companies will be entitled to the process and are likely to be able to proceed with replacements.

These companies will receive a clean bill certification from the registrar, which they will forward to the banks and thus proceed with unfreezing accounts.

President of the bar association, Christos Clerides meanwhile said on Tuesday that the registrar had sought the opinion of the legal services and that this had been delivered to the registrar’s offices on May 12, according to CNA.

Intense diplomatic efforts are also underway for the banks to come to an agreement with the US and UK authorities to unfreeze funds, the news outlet reported, noting that the matter involves the banks and that the government itself cannot intervene.