Cyprus will stop handing out passports to foreigners who invest at least 2 million euros in the country. The decision will take effect on 1 November. It follows an emergency cabinet session after the broadcast of a report on the news channel Al-Jazeera.
Journalists pretended to be representatives of a criminal Chinese investor. The parliament speaker, a civil servant, and a lawyer showed their willingness to help him for a fee. It is prohibited by law to do business with investors with criminal records. The parliament speaker has resigned his duties as long as the investigation is ongoing.
In August, Al-Jazeera had published 1,400 documents showing that Cyprus had sold passports to convicted and wanted criminals from Russia and China, among others.
Doubtful intentions
Cyprus has been a member of the European Union since 2004. Holders of a Cypriot passport can therefore travel visa-free throughout the EU. According to the news channel, in Cyprus there is a whole network of civil servants, politicians, lawyers and real estate developers helping foreigners with dubious intentions to obtain a Cypriot passport.
The British newspaper The Guardian wrote in 2017 that the so-called ‘golden visa’ program had generated billions since its introduction in 2013. According to the British newspaper, 400 passports had been sold in 2016 alone to people with an interest in the citizenship of an EU country, mainly from Russia and Ukraine.
The parliamentary parties of CDA, D66, PvdA and SP demanded early this year that the European Commission would publish all documents on controversial trade in passports by EU Member States. The intelligence and security service AIVD pointed out the danger that spies could easily move through the EU with a European passport.
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