Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou has said that even if Cyprus were involved in sanctions busting during the UN embargo against Yugoslavia the Cyprus government could not have been aware of this at that time, adding that once Cyprus achieves to substantiate this it will not remain exposed by a July 25 "Financial Times" report.

As the CNA reports, the spokesman said that Yugoslav officials had told international war crimes investigators that one of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milocevic's closest associates masterminded massive cash transfers in the 1990s from Belgrade to Cyprus, Papapetrou recalled that Attorney General Alecos Markides had launched a probe on the issue and noted that the government expressed its desire investigations to be concluded as soon as possible "in the light of the obvious political repercussions from this case."