When Cyprus banks shut down last month and a debt restructuring plan was unveiled, involving more than 10 billion euros in assistance, not everyone was upset and angry over a stiff tax on depositors.
Some managed to withdraw their cash from the troubled Cyprus banks just
in the nick of time. According to the Financial Times, several of these
companies are controlled by Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man, worth
$16 billion, according to Forbes. According to the Financial Times,
Akhmetov managed to get $30 million from Laiki bank two weeks before
March 15, when the rescue plan was unveiled. Akhmetov’s System Capital
Management holding company denied they had any insider information and
said that “the potential for financial crisis was extensively reported
in the international media well in advance of EU intervention. Therefore
SCM took prudent action to limit our banking exposure in Cyprus in the
months in advance of the Cyprus debt restructuring.”
