From 2007 to 2020, Cyprus will issue thousands of EU citizenships. This brings in a lot of money for the island state. However, according to the state supervisory authority, the majority of passports were issued illegally. Those responsible should now be held accountable.
According to a supervisory authority, the EU island republic of Cyprus has illegally issued a large part of the citizenships issued in recent years. From 2007 to 2020, 3,517 people and 3,810 of their close relatives were granted citizenship, the State Control Authority of Cyprus said. A very large number of them were “illegal naturalizations”. Those responsible should be held accountable, it said.
The authority published a 192-page investigation report. Applicants in Cyprus had to invest at least 2.5 million euros for the so-called “Golden Passport”, which grants freedom of travel within the EU. The award practice had been heavily criticized in the EU. According to Cyprus President Nikos Anastasiades, the expenses for the documents totaled 9.7 billion euros – money that was urgently needed, especially because of the country’s severe financial crisis in 2013.
According to media reports, among the people who received the Cypriot passport were Russian oligarchs. Your papers have already been withdrawn. The issuing of the passports itself was not illegal. However, a report by the TV channel Al-Jazeera, which showed how high-ranking government officials were proceeding, triggered great outrage. Parts of the award process were therefore illegal. The TV report also led to the resignation of the speaker of the parliament – it could be seen how he promised an interested party that he would “settle” his concerns.
