Demetris Demetriou

The president of Cyprus on Sunday fired the chief of police, his deputy and the acting director of the country's central prisons complex following the embarrassing escape of a convicted murderer while under guard during an eight-hour pass to visit family.

Cyprus' Customs Department, along with the island's Unit for Combating Money Laundering (MOKAS) and the police, addressed the issue of money laundering controls in the Republic of Cyprus during a session held on Wednesday by the Parliamentary Institutions Committee.

NICOSIA ? Arsonists torched two cars early on Tuesday outside the home of the head of Bank of Cyprus, who has overseen a major restructuring of the island?s largest lender, police said.

John Patrick Hourican ? a former Royal Bank of Scotland senior executive who joined BoC in October 2013 ? was out of the country on business at the time of the arson attack.