Cyprus suspends its Citizenship by Investment Program after big accusations

Thursday, 15th October 2020

The Economic Citizenship Program has been suspended amid new accusations that a prime state official and a veteran administrator were involved in efforts to bypass stringent vetting rules and grant a passport to a counterfeit investor with a supposed illegal record. Spokesperson of Cyprus government Kyriakos Koushos announced that the Cabinet received a suggestion by the Ministers of the Interior and Finance to eliminate collectively the golden passport program that has profited billions of euros over many years. Mr Koushos announced the resolution, which goes into effect Nov. 1, was based on the Cyprus Investment Program’s long-standing weaknesses, but also the violation of its stipulations. He said the administration would in due progression look at diverse ways of bringing foreign investment. The accusations surfaced in an hour-long secret article by Al Jazeera’s investigative unit that practised secret cameras to record Parliamentary Speaker Demetris Syllouris and lawmaker Christakis Giovanis promising full backing to awarding a passport to a made-up Chinese investor, notwithstanding a money laundering punishment against him. The report also noted lawyer Andreas Pittadjis, real estate agents and others planning to a man posing as a spokesperson for the Chinese investor many ways to skirt background checks, including a name change or granting citizenship through his wife. Both Pittadjis and Giovanis vehemently rejected the accusations, stating they were fully conscious that the proposal was counterfeit and that they only worked along to obtain more information from the representative in order to file a report with Cypriot law enforcement authorities.

Giovanis on Tuesday quit his seat in the Cypriot Parliament and resigned his responsibilities as a member of the communist-rooted AKEL party.

Cypriot Attorney-General George Savvides stated that he commanded police to conduct an in-depth police inquiry” to determine if any criminal acts had been performed.

European Commission spokesman Christian Wigand announced the bloc’s governing body is looking into launching infraction proceedings against Cyprus.