The hearings in the "golden passports" case, which has caused widespread public outrage, have resumed in Cyprus.
A regular hearing was held on Monday 18 March, during which the former chief lawyer of the Giovani Group, Antonis Antoniou, was completely acquitted.
The Attorney General of Cyprus decided to drop the criminal proceedings against the accused. As it turned out, the main witnesses - Anthony Kay and journalist Sarah Yeo - refused to testify against Antoniou. The former's position was particularly unexpected. According to a statement by the defendant's lawyer, Kaye said in writing that he "did not see or know of any wrongdoing" on the part of Antoniou. This contradicts his earlier statements.
Despite Antoniou's acquittal, other key defendants in the case - former Speaker Demitris Syllouris and former AKEL MP Christakis Giovannis - remain under investigation.
The defendants are facing five charges. The main ones relate to criminal conspiracy to undermine the authority of the Republic of Cyprus and to influence public officials in violation of the Council of Europe Convention on the Criminalisation of Corruption.
It should be recalled that four defendants were initially charged in the 'golden' passports case: Demetris Sillouris, Christakis Giovanis, Antonis Antoniou and Andreas Pittagis. The latter became widely known after he uttered the phrase 'This is Cyprus' in an Al Jazeera investigative piece, alluding to widespread law-breaking in the country. He was acquitted in 2023 and has since acted as Antoniou's defence lawyer.
The scandal erupted in October 2020, when the Qatar-based Al Jazeera television network published a documentary about a Cypriot scheme to obtain "golden" passports. Undercover journalists posed as agents of a fictitious Chinese businessman with a criminal record, who was seeking Cypriot citizenship. In the footage, Syllouris, Giovanis and others promised to help him circumvent the law.
After the report was published:
- Syllouris and Giovanis resigned.
- The Cypriot government shut down the investment citizenship programme.
- The EU launched an investigation, saying Cyprus was selling passports to dubious people.
According to the inquiry committee, 53% of the 6,779 citizenships issued were illegal. The Cypriot authorities began the process of cancelling the passports of those who had obtained citizenship through the scheme. However, legal proceedings against the accused continue and the Golden Passport case remains one of the country's biggest corruption stories.