The defendants, together with former president of the Cypriot parliament, have been uncovered by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit.
The previous president of the Cypriot parliament, Demetris Syllouris, and three others will face a legal trial subsequent month over a “cash-for-passports” scandal uncovered by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit, a court docket has dominated.
The 4, who appeared on Monday on the district court docket within the capital, Nicosia, face 5 corruption fees, together with conspiracy to defraud the state and untoward affect over public officers. The trial date on the legal court docket was set for October 26.
Moreover Syllouris, the opposite three defendants are Christakis Giovanis, a former member of parliament and property developer for the Giovani Group; Antonis Antoniou, the Giovani Group’s government director; and lawyer Andreas Pittadjis.
They deny any wrongdoing.
Syllouris’ lawyer Chris Triantafyllides requested the court docket to notice the defence argument that there's a battle of curiosity with fees filed by the Lawyer-Common George Savvides and his deputy Savvas Angelides, who have been authorities ministers through the passport scandal
On the finish of the 25-minute listening to, Syllouris, Giovanis and Antoniou have been launched on a 50,000-euro ($50,600) bail every. Pittadjis’s bail was set at 30,000 euros ($30,400), in response to the Cyprus Information Company.
The costs adopted Al Jazeera’s undercover investigation and the findings of an official inquiry prompted by the revelations, Cyprus authorities stated.
Cyprus Funding Programme
The “golden passports” scandal was uncovered in The Cyprus Papers Undercover, an Al Jazeera investigation launched in October 2020.
Within the documentary, all 4 males instructed an undercover reporter posing because the consultant of a fictitious Chinese language legal that they have been prepared to assist him receive a Cypriot passport and turn into a citizen of the European Union – for a value.
They stated they might assist him purchase a passport by way of the Cyprus Funding Programme. Beneath the scheme, passports may very well be issued for a minimal 2.15 million euros ($2.5m on the time) funding.
Nonetheless, convicted criminals have been formally barred from making use of, which might have disqualified the fictional Chinese language shopper.
Syllouris, then president of the Cypriot parliament, instructed the undercover reporters that their legal boss would have his “full help”.
He stated: “You'll be able to inform him that he can have, with out mentioning my title or anyone else’s, full help from Cyprus. At any degree – political, financial, social, all the pieces.”
Requested if the legal applicant would obtain a passport, he stated: “I can't say one hundred pc however I say 99 p.c.”
Pittadjis stated the shopper’s title may very well be modified on the passport, giving him a very new id, and making his legal report undetectable.
This could permit a legal to maneuver cash and journey by way of the EU with out elevating alarm.
When the reporters requested Pittadjis if he had beforehand modified a shopper’s title for a passport, he replied, laughing: “After all, that is Cyprus!”
Giovanis stated he would do all the pieces he may to get a passport for the Chinese language legal. “It’s not simple. However I can promise, we will do the very best. And I consider we've got the expertise,” he stated.
Antoniou stated the Chinese language legal ought to make investments as much as 20 million euros ($20.2m) in Cyprus to profit from “extra beneficial” phrases. “You'll be able to ‘skip the ready checklist’, as we are saying,” he stated.
The documentary despatched shock waves by way of the Mediterranean island. Inside days of its launch, the passport scheme was scrapped, Syllouris and Giovanis resigned, and the EU, Cypriot authorities and police launched investigations.
1000's protested towards corruption exterior the parliament constructing in Nicosia.
EU passports are prized by many from exterior the bloc, together with Asia, the Center East and Africa, and from nations reminiscent of Russia and Ukraine.
A Cypriot passport offers the holder the proper to reside, work and journey within the 27 EU member states and to get pleasure from visa-free entry to greater than 170 nations.
The Cyprus Papers
Earlier than The Cyprus Papers Undercover was broadcast, the Investigative Unit launched The Cyprus Papers, a trove of greater than 2,000 leaked purposes for the Cypriot passport programme.
The paperwork confirmed that between 2017 and 2019, Cyprus had authorized passports for greater than 30 individuals who have been beneath legal investigation, worldwide sanctions or serving jail sentences.
An additional 40 candidates held delicate political or state positions, which meant they have been thought of a severe danger for bribery or cash laundering beneath EU tips.
A 2021 Cyprus inquiry into the citizenship scheme discovered that 53 p.c of the 6,779 citizenships granted between 2007 and 2020 – the overwhelming majority of them to Russians – have been illegal.
The Cyprus exposé was a part of a wider investigation that confirmed how a rich legal may purchase an English soccer membership and use it to launder the proceeds of crime, helped by “enablers” who may conceal his wealth and alter his id – with a brand new passport.
The undercover reporters have been led to Cyprus by Keith Hunter, a non-public investigator and former Scotland Yard detective, who stated he had contacts on the island who may assist the legal shopper receive an EU passport.
The Investigative Unit’s documentary The Males Who Promote Soccer was launched in August 2021 and picked up a string of United Kingdom and worldwide awards and a BAFTA nomination in 2022. The Cyprus Papers Undercover was nominated for a BAFTA the earlier 12 months.
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