A brief announcement from the Palace said President Nicos Anastasiades had decided to appoint Georghadji, 58, as Governor with effect from April 11. The President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi was briefed on the appointment, the statement said. “She has a well-established track record for being independent and autonomous, which should dispel any notion this is a political appointment,” one source told Reuters.
Panicos Demetriades, an appointee of Cyprus’ former communist government and a member of the governing council of the European Central Bank, quit abruptly, two years into a five-year term, citing “mainly … personal and family reasons”. His poor relations with the centre-right administration which assumed power a year ago dogged his term, particularly amid the tumult of a chaotic bailout which saw a bank close and bank deposits raided last year. A source who saw Demetriades’s resignation letter, handed to the Cypriot finance minister in Brussels, said the banker had also cited difficulty in working with the board of directors – most of whom were appointed by the present government.
The Central Bank’s board of directors had accused Demetriades of keeping them in the dark on several key issues – including a clause in a consultant’s contract allowing it to claim a percentage of money required for the bailout of Cypriot banks. Demetriades never addressed the essence of their grievances, contained in a November report by the board’s audit committee. He was not immediately available to comment further on his resignation. Anastasiades had also frequently accused him of shortcomings, both before and after lenders agreed to give Cyprus €10 billion in aid which yanked it from the verge of bankruptcy in March 2013.
In a confidential memo Anastasiades sent to the European Commission last October and seen by Reuters, he had accused Demetriades of being “confrontational”, and following the political agenda of the previous government. Referring to their testy relations and Demetriades’ past assertions that he would not resign, Anastasiades wrote in the October memo: “The question which arises is what does he suggest in order to rectify the situation?” Persons close of Demetriades frequently complained of political interference in an institution whose independence was protected by the ECB.
Georghadji has been auditor general since 1998.
Source: Cyprus Mail
