The Cypriot citizenship investment scheme came under renewed fire after Al Jazeera's investigative department revealed on Sunday 23 August that the island has sold “golden passports” to dozens of criminals from more than 70 countries.
The official documents obtained by Al Jazeera – known as the “Cyprus Papers” – cover 1,400 passport applications approved by the Cypriot government between 2017 and 2019, many of which involve people who have been convicted of fraud and money laundering, public figures who have been accused of corruption and politically exposed persons.
This will provoke further criticism of the programme, which was already in the European Commission’s sights (see EUROPE 12178/2). The Commission has repeatedly called on Nicosia to tighten its security controls in order to prevent malign actors from using the system to gain entry to the EU.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Cyprus’s Ministry of the Interior stressed that the individuals’ eligibility for the programme had been assessed according to the criteria that were in force when they applied.
Since then, Cyprus has made several changes to its programme and, amongst other actions, in 2019 it banned from participating in the programme all individuals who were under investigation or wanted for arrest, had been convicted of a crime or were subject to international sanctions.
The Ministry of the Interior has stated that “the most important change is that the regulations ensure transparency, credibility and continuous control, both before submitting an application and after obtaining a Cyprus passport”.
Last November, following a number of scandals, the government of Cyprus undertook to withdraw citizenship that had “mistakenly” been granted to certain individuals under an earlier and less strict version of the programme (see EUROPE 12363/25), citing just a few dozen cases. However, Al Jazeera's investigation shows that a lot more people may have been involved.
A Commission spokesperson told us on Monday 24 August that the Commission expects the review to be thorough and the findings to be implemented quickly.
The European Commission only has limited leverage in this area, as each Member State determines its own conditions for gaining and losing nationality. “But they need to take EU law into account”, the spokesperson said, and added that the Commission intends to closely monitor the issues of compliance with EU law raised by programmes of this nature. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)