Cypriot authorities to deprive seven foreigners of citizenship, including EU sanctions

ATHENS, 31 August – RIA Novosti. Interior Minister Nikos Nouris said after a meeting chaired by President Nikos Anastasiades that the Cyprus Council of Ministers had decided to cancel the passports of seven foreigners, including under EU sanctions.

“The Cabinet decided today to initiate the process of revoking the passports of four investors and three family members based on the findings of the Investigative Committee, European Union sanctions and current legislation provisions,” Nuris said.

He did not give the names of foreigners.

In April, it was reported that the Cypriot government had ordered the process of revoking the Cypriot passports of four Russians from the EU sanctions list, followed by four Russian citizens and their families.

Cyprus has been granting citizenship to foreign investors and entrepreneurs since 2007. The country has been running the Cyprus Investment Program (CIP) since 2013, where foreigners can obtain citizenship in exchange for investment. Since 2013, the program involved investments of about 8 billion euros, the authorities issued about 4,000 “golden passports” to those who invested $ 2.5 million in the economy. Canceled on November 1, 2020. The decision to terminate the program was taken immediately after the release of the film investigation of the Al Jazeera TV channel about the participation of representatives of the Cypriot authorities in the plans to sell passports to criminals. The investigation caused a scandal.

The United States and the European Union constantly criticize Cyprus for selling passports. A US government report submitted to Congress in 2018 named Cyprus as one of the countries that laundered money from suspected Russian capital in connection with the issuance of their national passports.