Cypriot banks have been accused of ‘bleeding farmers dry’ by withholding tens of millions in subsidy money from them.
Former MP and leader of the Cyprus Farmers’ Union, Panikos Hambas, told the Cypriot media that a large number of farmers had told him they were unable to withdraw the subsidy payments from their bank accounts.
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He said: "They have farmers in a stranglehold. The banks, and especially the Co-operative Central Bank, are bleeding the farmers dry by denying them access to their money.
"Our farmers are losing business because they cannot invest in their farms and their land."
Hambas added that many farmers had been left without money over the Christmas holidays and that the banks were purposefully denying the farmers money until they repaid outstanding loans.
The farmers are supposed to receive a further 28m ($38m) in subsidy payments in the next few days.
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By GlobalDataA spokesman for the Co-operative Central Bank immediately denied the accusations, saying: "Our bank never withheld payments or limited access to an account balance.
"Such an action is illegal and I can assure you that no such directive was issued by the bank’s headquarters."
The spokesman said that the difficulties farmers are having may be related to individual loan agreements.
He said: "Maybe they signed an agreement for loans to be paid-off when they got their subsidy money.
"We really don’t know because this isn’t a bank policy. We do not limit access to accounts.
"We are assessing Mr Hambas’ accusations and we will investigate the matter thoroughly to make sure that no such incident occurred.
"Branch managers who are found having authorised such actions will be dealt with accordingly."
