This email was received from Lyn in Scotland who originally reached out to us via @onthisislandmag on Twitter.
Hi below is an overview of what has been happening in Cyprus, There are thousands of people caught up in this property mess due to greed and corruption by Alpha Bank, Alpha Panareti and local Pafos solicitors.
It is estimate that the fraud is in excess of £500m+ not a small sum by anyones standards and now the bank are playing hardball, looking for full payment for properties that haven’t even been built even though Alpha Bank has allowed the developer to have all the funds.
Alpha Bank were also aware that there was an existing encumbrance on the land as they had granted the loan to the developer prior to the sale of the units off plan.
The POA was given to the solicitor and as a professional bound by ethics etc.. You would have thought this to be a safe thing to do after meeting with them and checking on the law register And finding nothing un towards. Engaging a solicitor who was supposedly acting in your best interests one would expect them to do just that and unfortunately after the fact I discovered that her husband actually drafted the contracts of sale On behalf of the Developer.
Alpha Bank firstly did not follow their own banking code by not giving advice on various mortgage options and providing illustrations and getting the client to sign a declaration of understanding which is a must and has to be attached to the original agreement, they only offered mortgages in swiss francs, secondly they have not complied with terms within their contract being Clause 2 & 22 stating that NO funds will be released without proof of build from the architect. I have repeatedly requested copies and still waiting which means that none are available as this was never complied with.
AB and the solicitor set up an Escrow and a Loan account supposedly to offset interested charged on the drawdown etc.. This hasn’t happened in the way I believe it should have and HMRC are now looking for UK citizens To pay tax on monies they haven’t benefited from. I asked that the funds in the Escrow be transferred to the loan account to stop the high interest charges and the bank refused until I released the balance owing to the developer so if that’s not working hand in hand I Really don’t know what is.
The deeds will not be released as it turns out that the developer had a pre existing loan for 8M Euro on the land therefore until this is paid in full meaning that the purchasers will be liable for the debt and any taxes due should the developer become insolvent and title deeds cannot be issued in these circumstances.
Alpha Bank are currently issuing writs on UK Citizens and if undefended an automatic judgement is being issued tehn applications for an EEO thorugh the EU is given passed to UK courts who allow a charge to be placed over UK homes.
I purchased via a UK agent Jaguar Homes (David Pollard) the Developer is Alpha Panareti Public Ltd the loan is from Aplha Bank Cyprus, the solicitor is Maria Korakides.
Deposit paid Circa £15k three drawdowns amounting to 60,000 Euro I then withdrew the POA as I got wind of what was happening and have not released fund for years regardless of the many threats received from the developer.
Lyn
