Cyprus Officials Alleged To Profit From High-Tech IPO
by Lorys Charambolous, Tax-News.com, Nicosia
23 October 2001
Cyprus government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said yesterday that
the government would examine allegations published in local newspapers
that high-ranking ruling DISY and Presidential Palace officials had been
involved in getting a quick listing for troubled software company LK GlobalSoft.
LK GlobalSoft.com Ltd (GlobalSoft) was formed in 1999 as a result of the
merger of a number of prominent Cypriot software companies and started
trading on the Cyprus Stock Exchange on 26th April 2000. With 300 staff
and 6000 clients, Globalsoft is the largest IT company in Cyprus, marketing
software, internet and e-business solutions, hardware systems and a wide
range of technical support, training and implementation services.
According to the weekly business newspaper the Financial Mirror, which
has been known to shoot from the hip on past occasions, at least three
prominent officials 'played a crucial role in securing a quick listing
for LK GlobalSoft'. The company, whose share price has followed a typical
dotcom boom-to-bust cycle, and whose shares are now suspended, is currently
under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
and its Cypriot counterpart for allegedly misleading shareholders.
The Financial Mirror said that the party officials had received two million
shares during the Globalsoft IPO, using Isle of Man and British Virgin
Islands holding companies, while the financial official reportedly received
one million shares. One of the party officials subsequently sold his shares
for £6.13 each after securing them for 25 cents each, said the newspaper.
SEC Chairman Marios Clerides said he did not know whether political figures
were involved with GlobalSoft, but said there had been no pressure to
overlook any suspicious circumstances.
DISY deputy and House Watchdog Committee Chairman Christos Pourgourides
told the Cyprus Sunday Mail that his committee would carefully investigate
who bought shares, not only in GlobalSoft, but in all listed companies.,
saying: " Nobody will get any favours from us. If the allegations
prove to be true then these people have no place in public life."
.
|
|