Cyprus’ council of ministers has approved the withdrawal of 26 passports obtained through the country’s citizenship-by-investment scheme.
According to newswire Reuters, among those who will see their citizenship taken away are nine Russians, eight Cambodians, five Chinese, two Kenyans, one Malaysian and one Iranian national.
A total of nine investments were made but the scheme includes citizenship for family members.
Media reports have hinted that Jho Low, the Malaysian financier with links to beleaguered soverieng wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), might be among the 26, but Cypriot authorities have yet to confirm or deny this is the case.
Government authorities have admitted the rescission of the passports was a result of the flaws in the system which did not have criteria for high-risk people, said Cyprus interior minister Constantinos Petrides.
He added that the country will enhance due diligence audits and strictly adhere to the investment programme criteria, terms and conditions.
It is believed that more people could follow the 26 after the Cypriot government reviews early applications.
Backing the government
According to a rough translation of the Greek language statement to local media, the interior minister said the cabinet has started to withdraw citizenships from the 26 individuals.
He has been tasked with scrutinising every person that has used the citizenship-by-investment scheme in the country, up until 2018.
A three-member committee was formed to review the findings and to report back to the council with suggestions on how to improve the Cyprus Investment Programme.
Petrides added: “Provided that in the course of the new investigation any disciplinary or criminal offences by any person are found, the renewed proceedings shall be followed. This provision was also made in consultation with the attorney general of the Republic.”
Further scrutiny
In addition, he will need to send the relevant regulation to the country’s legal service, which will examine and then submit it to the council of ministers for approval.
A ban on advertising the scheme has been reiterated by Cyprus’ council of ministers.
The investment programme has been in place since 2013 and requires a minimum investment of €2m (£1.7m, $2.2m) to ‘buy’ a passport.
But when it was introduced, Petrides said, the relevant checks were issued by the Central Bank of Cyprus.
In addition, there was a “white criminal record” check stating that applicants should not have had a property frozen within the EU.
Stricter criteria
But in both 2018 and 2019, Cyprus added further criteria for citizenship-by-investment applicants, such as holding a Schenghen visa and not having not been refused EU citizenship by a Member State in the past.
“It would make sense that there would be some problems when the controls were not rigorous, and we have the determination to look at those cases,” the interior minister said.
“Mistakes were made, such as the fact that we had no criteria, for example, for high-risk people.”
The European Commission has been very critical of these types and has urged all member states to “phase out” golden visas as they jeopardise and pose security risks to the bloc.
Paddy Blewer, group public relations director at global citizenship and residence advisory firm Henley & Partners, told IA: “Henley & Partners welcomes and move that strengthens the industry and minimises the risks.
“What is important to note is that due to the inherent nature of the [citizenship-by-investment] CBI process, and CBI citizenship can be consistently reviewed, providing another level of risk mitigation.
“It’s worth comparing this to the one million EU naturalisations every year that are processed with significantly less [due diligence] and no review process; thereby representing a potentially significant security, intelligence and rule of law risk to EU.”
