Cyprus top lawyer: Judges’ law firm links compromise rulings

Cyprus’s attorney general has weighed into a growing feud with supreme court judges, backing his lawyer brother who alleged that the judges’ familial and professional links to a law firm that handled cases involving the country’s biggest bank may have led to favorable rulings.

Attorney General Costas Clerides said Tuesday that in two such cases, the judges didn’t recuse themselves even though their family members worked at the law firm representing senior Bank of Cyprus officials. Clerides said this should lead to “corrective steps instead of sweeping things under the carpet.”

In response, the supreme court said that in one case, Clerides himself didn’t seek the judges’ recusal. The court had earlier called Nicos Clerides’s allegations unfounded and denigrating, giving a skewed picture of the judicial system and eroding trust. [AP]