NICOSIA – Cyprus’ tarnished passports-for-cash scheme to attract investors operated with minimal oversight and thousands of passports were issued illegally, AFP reported the head of an inquiry as saying yesterday.
This “golden passport” is the same reportedly acquired by fugitive Malaysian businessman and alleged mastermind behind the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, some time in 2015.
Former supreme court judge Myron Nikolatos said there was “criminal and political” responsibility because rules had been broken.
An attorney-general-appointed commission of inquiry was set up last September to investigate the so-called “golden passports” issued between 2007 and August last year, before the scheme was scrapped in November.
“It is obvious the Cyprus Investment Programme was operating between 2007 and 2020 with gaps and deficiencies, an inadequate legislative framework and almost no regulatory framework,” Nikolatos told reporters.
The inquiry’s damning report said 53% of the 6,779 passports issued were granted illegally, because of a due diligence vacuum or insufficient background checks.
The cabinet had the final say on approving each passport application by a wealthy investor.
It was reported that Jho Low had acquired the passport after purchasing land and undertaking construction of a luxurious residence worth about €6 million (RM30 million) in Agia Napa.
In November 2019, then inspector-general of police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador had called certain countries' asylum offers to Low an “irresponsible action”.
He had said these countries were also not cooperating with Malaysian authorities.
“We have sought the countries’ cooperation to send (Jho Low) back, but he seems to get a kind of immunity and protection from the authorities in those countries,” he had said.
“We have tried various approaches, but they are giving us various excuses to the extent of saying that he had undergone facial plastic surgery.”
Later that same year, Cyprus said it had revoked Jho Low’s golden passport.
According to the Financial Times, the Cypriot government had conceded to inadequate risk assessment in the system.
Al Jazeera probe
Later yesterday, government spokesman Kyriacos Koushous said the administration was determined to “punish” those responsible, AFP reported.
The completion of the report “closes, or should close, a prolonged cycle of political tension and toxic climate, which primarily targeted the president (Nicos Anastasiades) and his government”, he said.
The Mediterranean island dropped the passport scheme after Al Jazeera aired a documentary showing reporters posing as fixers for a Chinese businessman seeking a Cyprus passport despite having a criminal record.
Parliament speaker Demetris Syllouris and an opposition MP were secretly filmed allegedly trying to facilitate a passport for the fugitive investor.
They later resigned, although both insisted they were innocent of any wrongdoing.
Al Jazeera said dozens of those who applied were under criminal investigation, international sanctions or even serving prison sentences.
Nicosia has long faced pressure from Brussels to reform the scheme over concerns it may have helped organised crime gangs infiltrate the European Union.
EU member Cyprus had argued it needed the investment following the island’s 2013 economic meltdown.
Nicosia allowed investors to acquire a passport in exchange for an investment of €2.5 million, netting a total of more than €7 billion for the state.
Money-laundering allegations also dogged the programme. – The Vibes, June 8, 2021
