The District Court of Limassol dismissed today four consolidated lawsuits, which were directed against the People's Bank of Cyprus, the Central Bank of Cyprus and the Republic of Cyprus and concern the impairment of deposits, as a result of the measures and decisions taken pursuant to the Reorganization of Credit and Other Institutions Law of 2013.
The plaintiffs sought, inter alia, damages for allegedly negligent acts and/or omissions of the defendants, which led to the impairment of the bank deposits they held at Laiki Bank, also challenging the constitutionality of the resolution measures and alleging a violation of their human rights.
The Court, examining the case, ruled that there was no evidence of negligence, fraud and violation of the obligations of the Republic of Cyprus (institutional duty), noting that "it has not been demonstrated that the Republic of Cyprus and its officials knew or could have known during the essential time of the acts or omissions attributed to them that these could lead to the implementation of consolidation measures and the impairment of the plaintiffs' deposits. In other words, it was not shown that at the relevant time the outcome of March 2013 was reasonably foreseeable." In its decision, the Court also states that by taking the reorganization measures, the depositors of Laiki Bank, including the plaintiffs, were ultimately not in a worse position than they would have been if the Bank had been placed in liquidation.
Regarding the issue of the constitutionality of the measures, the Court stated that in its judgment this is not essential in the circumstances for the examination of the case, while on the issue of the alleged violation of the plaintiffs' constitutional and/or human rights, the Court considered that something such is not documented.
The four consolidated lawsuits were dismissed in their entirety by the Court, which awarded costs in favor of the Republic and the other defendants.
On behalf of the Attorney General of the Republic, the case was handled by the Senior Attorney of the Republic Mrs. Elli Florentzou and Mr. Angelos Panagi, lawyer.