Newsroom
Ten defendants, including former transport minister Mario Demetriades, are facing an extensive list of criminal charges linked to Cyprus' citizenship-by-investment programme, with the case expected to begin later this year.
The prosecution has brought charges against eight individuals and two companies. The allegations include influence peddling, bribery, corruption, conspiracy to defraud, money laundering and breaches of the Council of Europe Convention on the Criminalisation of Corruption.
Alongside Demetriades, the defendants are Andreas Demetriades, Dimitris Demetriades, George Demetriades, Eleni Simillides, Jing Wang, Josef Friedrich Santin and Vasiliki Georgiou-Santin. The companies Andreas Demetriades & Co LLC and Delsk (Cyprus) Business Services Ltd have also been charged.
The trial had been due to open before the Permanent Criminal Court in Nicosia on Tuesday but was postponed because of the court's heavy workload. Proceedings are now scheduled to begin on September 14 at 9.30am.
Before the trial starts, the court will consider preliminary applications from the defence on July 24. One request asks the Attorney General to confirm whether a key prosecution witness was offered immunity or any form of favourable treatment in exchange for cooperation.
Under Cypriot law, all defendants are presumed innocent unless their guilt is established beyond a reasonable doubt by the court.
