Cyprus Banking ‘Theft’ - A Cry For Help

Echoing my own Cyprus theft theme of the other day (http://www.brianbollen.com/bbb_brian_bollens_blog/2013/03/civil-war-in-cyprus.html) it seems a number of foreign businessmen and UK-based businesses with interests in Cypriot banks have approached leading UK Human Rights lawyers Howe & Co for legal help in the face of what they view as ‘theft’ of their money from Cypriot banks. 

Howe & Co is famed for its role in successfully fighting for Gurkha rights alongside the gorgeous, impossibly graceful and mellifluous Joanna Lumley.

Partner Martin Howe said, ‘An international  businessman with millions of dollars at stake was among the first to approach us. He had a significant deposit in the UK branch of a Cyprus based bank and it has, in his words, been ‘plundered’. This shocking development in international Banking is a serious threat to every business and citizen in the EU. It undermines the basic concept of fairness and infringes Human Rights. If anyone else were to remove funds from a business account it would be viewed as theft. The criteria about who is losing what seem arbitrary and potentially unfair. No previous EU ‘rescue’ has involved depositors being treated in this way. We are building a legal challenge to this situation’.

Howe & Co is the main backer of a new campaign (soon to be launched) to fight for a better deal for banking customers. The campaign FairBankingUK (www.fairbankinguk.com) was originally to be launched in early April. However, the news of its imminent launch is being brought forward due to the Cyprus crisis.