Cyprus Cancels 77 High-Profile ‘Golden’ Passports, Including Many Held by Russian Oligarchs
Cyprus is continuing the procedures for cancelling problematic golden passports of persons who have been granted Cypriot citizenship under the Cyprus Investment Programme on an exceptional basis. The cancellation of golden passports is approved by the Council of Ministers of Cyprus, as new problematic cases are constantly being identified, Politis reports.
The day before, a list of 77 foreign investors was published, who were deprived of their golden passports by the Council of Ministers.
The cases of the investors whose golden passports were cancelled are included in the cases classified as high-risk by the Nikolaotos Investigation Committee and will be reviewed. Some have already been reviewed and criminal charges have been brought against them by special teams set up at the Police Headquarters.
The list includes Russian oligarch Alexei Kuzmichev, metallurgical baron Oleg Deripaska, former FSB investigator Sergei Kovbasyuk, and Ukrainian billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky, who was arrested in Kyiv on fraud and money laundering charges.
The list of names was prepared about a month ago and includes well-known cases of Russian multimillionaires, as well as the No. 1 wanted person for fraud and financial crimes worldwide, Malaysian stockbroker Joe Low.
In the list, the number of golden passports received by their family members is indicated in brackets next to the names of foreign investors. With the seizure of gold passports from 77 investors, the gold passports issued to their family members were automatically cancelled.
The list of names also includes the names of service providers, law firms and audit firms through which the golden passports were sent.
The reasons for the revocation of passports include false declarations, criminal records and non-compliance with naturalisation requirements. The total list of revocations has grown to 286.
The Golden Visa scheme, which was established in 2013, has brought Cyprus about €7 billion. People from Russia and China have been the biggest contributors, and the resort town of Limassol is now known to locals as ‘Limassolgrad’ because many properties there are owned by Russians.
For decades, this Mediterranean country created an economy that courted the Russians and had a notorious reputation as a conduit for illicit money flows.