![](\"https:\/\/www.financialmirror.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/CySec-2.jpg\")
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For more than seven years, Cyprus\u2019 reputation has been tainted by the Jho Low scandal, with the high profile Malaysian criminal successfully obtaining a Cypriot passport in exchange for millions in real estate investments and hundreds of thousands in donations to the Church of Cyprus.<\/p>\n
The late archbishop himself admitted he offered his services for Jho Low to obtain citizenship, allegedly without any knowledge of his past.<\/p>\n
According to the 2021 OCCRP report, \u201cby 2015, the Malaysian financier had become the face of the now-infamous 1MDB embezzlement scandal. His theft of billions from Malaysia\u2019s sovereign wealth fund had been widely reported\u2026 .<\/p>\n
\u201cTechnically known as Citizenship by Investment, the Cypriot \u2018golden passport\u2019 programme was meant to attract wealthy foreigners seeking European Union passports.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut in the eyes of critics, its main effect was to make Cyprus a go-to destination for kleptocrats and criminals who wanted to pay their way into the bloc. It also proved lucrative for a small army of lawyers and financial service providers who greased the wheels.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, the new president has vowed to put an end in the ways that haunted Cyprus.<\/p>\n
Some suggest that the new initiative was engineered by US authorities. It is well known that the United States have the power to stop transactions in dollars in any commercial bank around the world or place sanctions that can ultimately render a bank as good as dead without its correspondent banking.<\/p>\n
Nikos Christodoulides\u2019 job, however, is to look at the wider picture and make sure that Cyprus\u2019s reputation as a legitimate investment and financial services destination is restored.<\/p>\n
In the past, accountants and lawyers in Cyprus had their own associations regulating and supervising their members, but the conflict was hidden in plain sight. The results of this arrangement have failed expectations.<\/p>\n
Now, the president wants a single regulator for corporate and administrative services that is independent both in fact and appearance.<\/p>\n
We endorse this decision, despite strong opposition from the Cyprus Bar Association.<\/p>\n
President Christodoulides\u2019 determination to go ahead with his government decision for a single regulator will certainly pay dividends now and in the future. But most importantly it will spare Cyprus of the continuous international embarrassment of defending one scandal after another.<\/p>\n
The new proposal is to assign the task to the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission or CySEC, the equivalent of the British FCA.<\/p>\n
Chairman George Theocharides promised to discuss the new proposal with the government and in a press conference this week he noted that his agency would need to have the necessary resources in order to be able to carry out this task.<\/p>\n
Despite its anti-money laundering supervisory expertise, CySEC will need to hire and train new people and expert forensic accountants, before taking over such an enormous supervisory challenge.<\/p>\n
Already, CySEC is trying hard to meet existing goals and challenges posed by the financial services market it is tasked to regulate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a proposal that I put forward in 2019-2020, while I was still in office at CySEC in order to strengthen the credibility of Cyprus,\u201d Demetra Kalogerou, the former CySEC chair, told us.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t have the respective professional associations of accountants and lawyers supervising the work of their own members for AML issues and claim that this process is independent.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter how hard these associations try to perform independent investigations, they will always appear biased towards their own members and that has probably impacted<\/p>\n
the reputation of Cyprus. Although I haven\u2019t looked at the bill yet, I strongly believe that this decision of the government is in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cyprus’ reputation has been negatively affected for over seven years due to the Jho Low scandal, where the Malaysian criminal obtained a Cypriot passport through real estate investments and donations to the Church of Cyprus. The late archbishop admitted to assisting Jho Low in obtaining citizenship, claiming ignorance of his past. The 2021 OCCRP report highlighted Jho Low as the face of the 1MDB embezzlement scandal, stealing billions from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund. The Cypriot “golden passport” program, officially known as Citizenship by Investment, aimed to attract wealthy foreigners but was criticized for facilitating access for kleptocrats and criminals to the EU. The program was lucrative for lawyers and financial service providers in Cyprus. The new president of Cyprus has committed to reforming these practices to restore the country’s reputation as a legitimate investment and financial services destination. A proposal suggests assigning regulatory responsibilities to the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) to ensure independence and effectiveness in supervision, despite opposition from the Cyprus Bar Association. CySEC, under the leadership of Chairman George Theocharides, acknowledges the need for additional resources and expertise to take on this challenge. Demetra Kalogerou, former CySEC chair, supports the government’s decision for a single regulator, criticizing the lack of independence in the current system where professional associations regulate their own members.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4424,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[652,1902,537,461,2134,1031,233,616,279,2215,3,590,2092,181,379,2212,654,216,415,283,187,1342,2213,2214,591,185,1060,193,1004,287,331,759,1806,1181,544,380,18],"class_list":["post-4423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-army","tag-bank","tag-bar-association","tag-british","tag-challenges","tag-christodoulides","tag-church","tag-citizenship","tag-comment","tag-cypriot-passport","tag-cyprus","tag-cyprus-bar-association","tag-cysec","tag-donations","tag-eu","tag-fiduciary","tag-forensic","tag-golden-passports","tag-government","tag-guests","tag-international","tag-investigations","tag-jho-low","tag-jho-low-scandal","tag-lawyers","tag-main","tag-money-laundering","tag-nikos-christodoulides","tag-power","tag-real-estate","tag-sanctions","tag-scandal","tag-services","tag-theft","tag-united-states","tag-us","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n