Procedures are underway to revoke problematic “golden passports” granted under the island’s disgraced Citizenship by Investment scheme, which was brought to an abrupt end in Novembers 2020.
These revocations continue as new problematic cases are identified in the wake of a damning 515-page report into the scheme by former Supreme Court judge Myron Nikolatos, which identified that 51.81 per cent of around 3,500 cases examined had been unlawfully granted or involved violations.
Reasons for golden passports revocation
Passports are being revoked primarily for the following reasons:
- False Declarations and Misleading Information: Examples include cases where applicants provided fraudulent marital or investment information.
- Criminal Records: Some investors were found to have been involved in serious crimes, including fraud and corruption.
- Failure to Meet Terms of Naturalization: Instances where properties linked to investments were incomplete or sold post-naturalization.
Calls for transparency rejected
Despite calls for transparency, Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou refused to disclose the names of the investors whose golden passports had been revoked, citing privacy concerns, ongoing investigations, and the risk of influencing legal proceedings.
Names published by Politis
However, four days ago, the Greek language newspaper Politis published a list of 77 foreign investors whose golden passports were revoked.
According to the newspaper, the list was compiled about a month ago. It includes the Malaysian-born businessman Jho Low, accused of looting $4.5 billion from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund who was granted Cypriot citizenship back in 2015. It also includes the names of the providers, the law firms and the audit firms, through which the golden passports in question were facilitated.
The Insider reports that the list also includes several Russians on the Forbes Billionaires List, including:
- Aluminum magnate and Rusal founder Oleg Deripaska;
- Igor Kesaev, owner of the Mercury Group and Megapolis Group (Russia’s leading tobacco distributor), shareholder of the Degtyarev weapons plant;
- Mikhail Gutseriev, main shareholder of the Safmar Group;
- Alexey Kuzmichev, one of the founders of Alfa Group;
- Alexander Ponomarenko, construction tycoon, former chairman of the board of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport;
- Vadim Moshkovich, long-time chairman of agro-industrial firm Rusagro and former Russian MP;
- Sergey Lomakin, co-founder of Russian discount retail chain Fix Price, owner of Cypriot football club Pafos FC.
Several billionaires, including Deripaska, Kesaev, and Gutseriev, are under international sanctions.
The Insider also names Ukrainian oligarchs Ihor Kolomoyskyy and Oleg Bakhmatiuk, owner of the agricultural company UkrLandFarming.
Nine more golden passports revoked
According to the official information obtained by Politis, the list does not include nine further cases of investors whose golden passports were recently revoked, while a further unknown number of suspicious cases are under investigation.
As of four days ago, golden passports have been revoked from 86 investors as well as members of their families, including spouses, children, and parents.
One wonders if the law and or accountancy firms will receive more than a slapped wrist and a don’t do it again warning? I think not, but there again I’m a cyncic. Welcome to Cyprus.