UN concern at Greek / Cyprus (South) war crimes stance

Yugoslav cars with diplomatic number plates drove sacks of D-marks through Macedonia to the Yugoslav consulate at Thessaloniki in northern Greece. The cash was mainly deposited in European Popular Bank, a subsidiary of Popular Bank of Cyprus, in which UK-based HSBC group is the biggest shareholder.
An FT investigation has found that Yugoslav front companies based in Cyprus used foreign currency accounts at Popular Bank and its Greek subsidiary to transfer funds to buy weapons, fuel and spare parts in defiance of UN sanctions. The front companies also made transfers to accounts at Greek banks. The companies’ foreign owners claim they did not know of these transactions.

Mrs del Ponte also asked the Greek government for bank documents relating to the front companies’ activities. Athens pledged to provide "everything Mrs del Ponte asks for", but UN investigators say some are missing.

Greece, which supported the regimes of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, on Monday denied it had ignored Mrs del Ponte’s requests, but said "Mr Papandreou had been very busy".