Authorities are poised to file charges in connection with the citizenship-by-investment programme, sources say.
A meeting between police investigators and the Law Office on Tuesday will examine progress on specific cases with completed investigations. These files have been submitted for review and potential prosecution.
This follows an April meeting where the broader investigation was discussed and expediting actions were emphasised.
Police have submitted a completed file on the largest case, involving 21 applications processed by a single service provider, a prominent law firm suspected of facilitating unlawful approvals. The police recommend charges based on the evidence collected.
The Law Office is also reviewing other completed cases and the progress of ongoing investigations.
A special police team is scrutinising roughly 100 citizenship grants to foreign investors deemed problematic. These include instances where individuals were wanted for crimes like fraud, or where promised investments were never made or were fictitious.
Reports from the Inquiry Committee and the Audit Office revealed discrepancies between promised investments and their actual locations. Additionally, individuals with outstanding warrants allegedly concealed their wanted status to obtain citizenship illegally.
Recently, the government revoked the citizenship of six investors who acquired it unlawfully.
Sources say the pace of investigations is slower than desired by the Law Office due to investigators handling multiple cases.
The citizenship-by-investment scheme – known as the ‘golden passports programme’ – was abolished after an undercover investigation by Al Jazeera revealed rampant corruption and that the government approved issuing passports to international criminals and fugitives, drawing criticism from the European Union and sparking protests in the country.
Under the scheme, foreign nationals were able to acquire a Cypriot passport by investing more than 2 million euros in the country.
The European Commission (EC) has no right to impose restrictions on EU Member States’ citizenship-by-investment (CBI) policies, according to an Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European
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