Cyprus has filed first indictment under investment passport scheme Europe News

The action against five persons and four legal persons was based on the findings of an ad hoc commission.

Cyprus has filed its first criminal indictment in a controversial investment passport scheme that was revoked after Al Jazeera’s corruption last year. exhibition, according to the state legal service.

“The first criminal case against the naturalization of foreign investors and entrepreneurs was registered in the Larnaca district court,” he said in a statement on Friday.

He said the action against five people and four legal entities, facing a total of 37 charges, was based on the findings of an ad hoc commission, without naming him.

The legal service said “sensitive details” would not be disclosed due to the “seriousness” of the investigation.

“Golden Passport”

Last November, Cyprus canceled a so-called “golden passport” scheme after Al Jazeera TV aired a document after watching documentaries being presented as a fix for a Chinese businessman who was looking for a Cyprus passport despite having a criminal record.

Parliament Speaker Demetris Syllouris and opposition politician were secretly filmed trying to facilitate the passport of the alleged investor.

They later resigned, although they both insisted they were innocent of any wrongdoing.

Al Jazeera reported that dozens of other criminal investigators who filed the request were serving international sentences or prison sentences.

Nicosia has long been under pressure from Brussels to reform the scheme because of concerns that organized crime gangs could help infiltrate the European Union.

Cyprus argued that investment was essential after the island’s 2013 economic collapse.

Thousands of documents

Nicosia issued thousands of passports under the scheme, and applicants could get them in exchange for a $ 3 million investment.

About 51 percent of the 6,779 passports issued between 2007 and 2020 went to recipients who did not need to be classified, according to preliminary results from an independent study.

Authorities had to make citizenship applications with rubber stamps without proper processing or background checks.