A hearing in the Golden Passport case was recently held in Nicosia. As a result, the criminal proceedings under the Citizenship by Investment programme have been postponed again.
The new hearing is expected to take place on 13 January 2025.
It should be noted that the main defendants are the former President of the House of Representatives Demitris Syllouris, former MP Christakis Giovanis and the manager of his real estate company Antonis Antoniou.
The defendants are facing five charges. The main charges relate to criminal conspiracy to undermine the authority of the Republic of Cyprus and to influence a public official in violation of the Council of Europe Convention on the Criminalisation of Corruption. During the trial, the defendants denied all the charges against them. It should be clarified that the proceedings are based on the findings of Myron Nicolatos, who investigated the illegal issuance of golden passports.
Recall that on 12 October 2020 a huge scandal erupted following a report by the Qatari television channel Al Jazeera.
In the video, high-ranking officials agreed to grant Cypriot citizenship to a Chinese investor who had been sentenced in absentia by the PRC authorities to seven years in prison for corruption, money laundering and bribery.
Cyprus has set up a special committee to investigate the high-profile scandal. In parallel, the country's Auditor General has been conducting an independent investigation, which, for reasons unknown, has been repeatedly blocked. A series of public hearings were held on the island.
Finally, on 22 June 2021, the final report of the committee of inquiry headed by Myron Nicolatos into the illegal issuance of golden passports was published. The 780-page dossier was heavily redacted. The names and some personal details of investors were removed for security reasons.
A lengthy investigation uncovered a number of irregularities. Syllouris and Giovannis resigned. Under pressure from the international community, the Cypriot authorities were forced to close the scheme on 1 November 2020.