Cyprus has revoked more passports from people who had acquired citizenship through its controversial “golden visa” scheme.
The passport-for-cash program, which was suspended in 2020 under mounting pressure, granted foreigners residence and citizenship rights if they invested millions of euros in the country.
But in a Cabinet meeting this week, the government decided to revoke 77 more “golden” passports, the majority of them belonging to Russian citizens, according to Politis newspaper.
These include Russian oligarch Alexei Kuzmichev, metals baron Oleg Deripaska, former FSB investigator Sergey Kovbasyuk and Ukrainian billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky, who was arrested in Kyiv on charges of fraud and money laundering. Malaysian businessman and fugitive financier Jho Low was also on the list of names that lost Cypriot citizenship.
Two government officials refused to comment on the process, noting that the government in Nicosia “does not comment on publications concerning confidential decisions of the Council of Ministers or issues that concern strictly personal data.”
The reasons given for revoking the passports are false declarations, criminal backgrounds and failure to meet naturalization requirements. The list of total revocations has risen to 286.
The “Golden Visa” scheme, which was set up in 2013, has netted Cyprus some €7 billion. People from Russia and China have been the biggest participants, with the resort town of Limassol now known locally as “Limassolgrad” because so much property there is owned by Russians.
For decades, the Mediterranean country built an economy that courted Russians and had an infamous reputation as a conduit for illicit money flows. The country has gone a long way toward untying these knots in the last decade, but the process has accelerated drastically since the Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Earlier this year, the U.S. and Cyprus announced they would boost their cooperation in enhancing Cypriot capabilities in countering and prosecuting illicit finance operations with the support of the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI.
The post Cyprus revokes more high-profile ‘golden’ passports appeared first on Politico.
