Launched in 2007 and expanded in 2013 following the Cyprus banking crisis, the Golden Passports scheme was designed to attract foreign capital, boost the real estate market, and support economic recovery.
However, it was mired in controversy due to allegations of corruption, money laundering, and insufficient oversight.
In 2020, following an undercover investigation by Al Jazeera, which revealed how politically exposed persons (PEPs), criminals, and individuals under international sanctions were able to exploit the program – and intense pressure from the EU, Cyprus announced that its Golden Passports scheme was irrevocably terminated.
In 2021, former supreme court judge Myron Nikolatos delivered a damning 515-page report into the scheme, which identified that 51.81 per cent of around 3,500 cases examined had been unlawfully granted or involved violations.
Golden passports developments
This week saw the former Transport Minister, Marios Demetriades, who served in the first Anastasiades administration from 2014 to 2018, facing charges related to allegations of using his ministerial position to secure investors for his family’s law firm. His father, a former minister in a different administration, their law firm, and a public employee were also charged with bribery, corruption, and money laundering.
According to press reports, the attorney-general’s office is preparing two further cases related to the Golden Passports scheme. Although an earlier case against a Larnaca law firm involved in the citizenship by investment scheme was unsuccessful, the attorney-general has not given up.
Investigations into possible wrongdoing continue, although it is curious why it has taken so long to build these cases. At the very least, the authorities seem committed to pursuing the issue.
It remains uncertain whether this case will be successful. A successful prosecution, provided there is sufficient evidence, could improve public perception of the justice system.
However, the broader issue of corruption is still being neglected. It’s worth remembering that the citizenship by investment program flourished under the presidency of Nicos Anastasiades, with his family businesses reportedly benefiting significantly from it. This raises not just legal questions, but ethical ones, especially when the family of the head of state profits from policies he has both designed and promoted.
What’s more troubling is that the Anastasiades government continued the program despite objections from the European Commission about the rampant issuance of EU passports for financial gain.
Instead of halting the Golden Passports scheme, it was merely tweaked and allowed to continue. Was the president prioritizing his family’s financial interests – given their involvement in large construction projects and property sales to foreign investors seeking EU passports – over the interests and reputation of the Republic, which suffered yet another blow because of the Golden Passports scandal?
Given that Demetriades has been charged for using his ministerial status to attract clients to his family’s law firm, is it not possible that the president at the time could have done something similar? Or is it somehow acceptable that the president was taken on an all-expenses-paid holiday by a businessman whose extended family was later granted Cypriot passports? Perhaps this was merely a coincidence, not worthy of investigation.
Although Anastasiades has consistently maintained that his integrity is beyond reproach, he is currently under investigation by the Independent Authority Against Corruption. Whether this investigation will find any wrongdoing on his part remains to be seen.
Is it not a conflict of interest when the president of a country, his family’s employees or business interests are in any way involved in the issuing of the country’s citizenship?