The Cypriot Cabinet of Ministers has decided to cancel the "golden" passports of two more foreign investors granted under the "citizenship for investment" programme.
This was announced on Thursday 27 June by government spokesman Constantinos Letimpiotis.
According to him, the decision to strip Konstantin Grigorishin and Igor Kesaev of their Cypriot citizenship was taken after they were blacklisted by the Interior Ministry. The process of stripping the Russian oligarchs of their citizenship is expected to begin next week. They are known to have obtained Cypriot passports during the presidency of Dimitris Christofias. In particular, Grigorishin became a Cypriot on 4 January 2011 and Kesaev on 25 May 2012.
This brought the total number of foreigners deprived of their Cypriot passports to 236. Of these: 71 investors and 165 dependants. It should be noted that recently the Cypriot passport was withdrawn from the Malaysian businessman Jho Low.
It should be remembered that the Cyprus Investment Scheme has granted EU citizenship to thousands of foreigners.
The programme was originally designed to help the island nation's economy recover after a prolonged crisis. Passports were issued in exchange for investments of up to €2.5 million in Cypriot property. The scheme was particularly popular with Russian and Chinese citizens.
In 2020, however, the Cypriot government scrapped the scheme in the wake of the scandalous Al Jazeera video. An investigation by the Qatari publication found that Cypriot passports were being obtained by criminals and those caught up in international sanctions.
Under pressure from the EU, the island nation's government conducted its own investigation in 2021, which found that of the 6,779 passports issued between 2007 and 2020, more than half went to people who did not meet the programme's requirements. In addition, citizenship was granted to managers of foreign and Cypriot companies who were not investors and business owners.
It is worth noting that:
- Investors who are deprived of their citizenship of the Republic of Cyprus will not be refunded the registration fees they paid at the time of application.
- They will not be reimbursed for the financial costs of preparing the application package and the fees of lawyers and consultants.
- The properties they have acquired as a condition of citizenship will remain in their possession.
- Foreign investors who are deprived of their Cypriot citizenship have the right to challenge the decision of the Cypriot government in court.