The 68 "golden" passports concern investors and the remaining 165 members of their families. Another 23 cases of investors are under the microscope of the authorities
Proceedings are underway to remove "golden" passports from all kinds of fraudsters and criminals who paid lawyers, accountants and developers in Cyprus with their black and stolen money to illegally secure them Cypriot citizenship through the Cyprus Investment Program. The revocations of "golden" passports by the Council of Ministers continue as new cases of large investors are constantly being identified who were ultimately scumbags and criminals but the Republic of Cyprus was informed of this recently, like the cheated husband.
So, according to the official data obtained by "P" from the Ministry of the Interior, the Council of Ministers has decided until today to revoke the Cypriot citizenship of 233 persons, of which 68 are investors and the remaining 165 are family members their.
For three other cases of investors, the investigation has been completed and soon a proposal is expected to be submitted to the Council of Ministers to confiscate the "golden" passports held by them and their family members. According to the same information, another 20 cases of foreign investors are on the list of suspicious cases which will be investigated by the competent authorities.
Almost all the 68 cases of investors that have been brought before the Council of Ministers so far concern cases that have been characterized as high risk by the Nikolatos investigative committee and will be examined, some are already being examined, by the special levels that were established at the Police Headquarters to determine any criminal offences.
The reasons for deprivation
"Golden" passports are revoked in cases where it is confirmed that they were obtained by fraud, misrepresentation and concealment of material facts. These are cases of foreign investors against whom criminal cases were pending in their countries or elsewhere, or were wanted, or were in custody, or had been convicted of committing serious criminal offenses, did not have a clean criminal record and were not of "good character". Therefore, he was not immediately entitled to a "golden" passport, but… The Home Office did not carry out its own investigation into who the investors were and relied largely on the information it received from providers which included lawyers, accountants, developers and all sorts of middlemen and scammers. As it turned out, several of them were not honest in the information they were passing on to the Home Office.
With the confiscation of the "golden" passports from investors, the "golden" passports given to their family members are also automatically cancelled, which, in any case, are considered illegal according to the opinion of the former Attorney General Kostas Clerides.
The Council of Ministers gave instructions to revoke "golden" passports for the following reasons:
1 False statements and misleading information. There have been cases in which the investors declared an obstacle to present themselves in Cyprus to sign their naturalization certificate. And their lawyers falsely claimed professional obligations but in reality their clients were detained in their countries for committing criminal offences.
Through the ongoing investigations, a case of a woman who naturalized in 2012 as the wife of an investor was identified, while she had divorced her husband since 2010 and hid it. In another case of an investor, among the many revealed by the Nikolatos investigative committee, it was found that he did not invest the amount he falsely declared for naturalization purposes but a much smaller amount. As it turned out, he was paid back part of the amount he originally paid for his investment by the land development company, which is being investigated for acting as an accomplice in defrauding the Republic.
2 Investors – convicts. For several cases of investors, it was established through the investigation of the Nikolatos committee that they had several aggravating factors against them as they were involved in serious crimes. They were sentenced to multi-year prison terms and their names were on Interpol's international wanted list, and more. An illustrative example is the case of an investor who was naturalized in 2018 while he was sentenced to prison in his country for embezzlement, bribery and abuse of power. Another investor who received a "golden" passport in 2012 was convicted of tax evasion.
3 Investors sued and wanted. The investigation of individuals by the prosecuting authorities for the commission of criminal offenses or even their detention pending the adjudication of their criminal cases is not in itself grounds for consideration of deprivation of naturalization. However, for a large number of "golden" passports involving about 20 investors, the Nicolatos investigative committee recommended their monitoring because, in the event of a conviction, Article 113(3) of the existing legislation should be activated to cancel the "golden passports". » passports they hold. The 20 investors on trial face charges in their home countries of corruption, conspiracy, tax evasion, embezzlement, fraud and money laundering, participation in a criminal organization and illegal gambling-related operations.
Therefore, it is noted that the Council of Ministers has the authority for reasons of defending the interests of the Republic or the public interest to decide the cancellation of "golden" passports from investors due to the very negative events that occurred after their naturalization that cause damage to the reputation of the Republic and must not be allowed to continue.
4 Failure to comply with the terms and conditions of naturalization. In cases where the property which was the investment or the permanent residence was not completed, the Council of Ministers made it a condition that a certificate of the progress of the construction of the properties and, after their completion, a certificate of delivery be submitted every year to the Ministries of the Interior and Finance to the investor. In the decision of the Council of Ministers, it was explicitly mentioned that the non-fulfillment of these conditions will mean that the naturalization can be revoked. In several cases of investors, certificates of progress or completion of the real estate works were never filed, on the basis of which they received "golden" passports. There were also cases in which, after their naturalization, they sold the properties and left Cyprus.
The decision taken since last year is to check a total of 3,517 holders of "golden" passports in order to establish whether they still own the properties, which they are required to use as a first residence based on the terms and conditions set by the KEP.
Right to be heard
The process of revoking "golden" passports is particularly time-consuming.
In accordance with the current legislation, the Council of Ministers, before issuing a decree of deprivation of citizenship, informs the affected investor in writing of the reason on the basis of which the said decree is to be issued, as well as of his right to appeal to the independent Commission for Examination of Citizenship Deprivation. The independent committee may, at its discretion, call the affected person before it to express his position or consider it if he notifies the person beforehand to send his position in writing. In accordance with the procedure established by the current legislation, the Citizenship Deprivation Examination Committee formulates its opinion following its reasoned decision to the Council of Ministers, which in turn examines the committee's opinion and, if satisfied based on the evidence before it, proceeds to deed of deprivation of Cypriot citizenship from a specific person and from his family members. As we have been told competently, in all cases it is sought to inform the affected investor as well as to ensure the position of him or his legal advisors before a decision is taken to revoke a "golden" passport and the reason is obvious: In order not to challenge the decision to revoke the of Cypriot citizenship before a court.
The President of the Committee for Examination of Deprivation of Citizenship is the Prosecutor of the Republic Mrs. Elena Zachariadou-Georgiadou and the Accountant General of the Republic and the Director General of the Ministry of Justice or their representatives participate as members.