At the end of last week, the Cypriot Parliament held a regular session.
One of the main topics of discussion was the progress of the investigation into cases of illegal issuance of "golden" passports.
It turned out that the government of Cyprus has so far deprived 86 people of their citizenship. This was announced by Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou. At the same time, he refused to disclose in parliament the names of the investors whose passports were taken away. However, he noted that most of the cases relate to the years 2022-2024. And the largest number of passports (23) were seized in February 2023, before former Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades left office. A total of 35 people were stripped of their citizenship in 2023. The minister also revealed that a total of 36 people had their passports revoked in the first eight months of 2024. Another 15 revocations took place in 2022.
Recall that thousands of foreigners have received EU citizenship under the Cyprus Investment Program.
The program was originally developed 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 euros in Cypriot real estate. The program was particularly popular with citizens of Russia and China.
In 2020, however, the Cypriot government shut it down because of the scandalous Al Jazeera video. An investigation by the Qatari publication showed that Cypriot passports were being obtained by criminals and people under international sanctions.
Under pressure from the EU in 2021, the island nation's government conducted its own investigation, which found that of the 6,779 passports issued between 2007 and 2020, more than half were given to people who did not meet the program's requirements. In addition, citizenship was granted to managers of foreign and Cypriot companies who were not investors and business owners.
It is worth mentioning that:
- Investors who are deprived of the citizenship of the Republic of Cyprus will not be refunded the registration fees they paid when submitting their applications.
- They will not be reimbursed for the financial costs of preparing the application package and the fees of lawyers and consultants.
- The properties they purchased 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.