Panayiotis Rougalas
More than €1.1 million in donations were funneled to political parties in Cyprus between 2016 and 2021 from individuals and companies linked to the controversial Cyprus Investment Program, commonly known as the “Golden Passport” scheme.
According to a compliance audit by the Audit Office, carried out at the request of the House Committee on Development Plans Oversight and Public Expenditure Control, the contributions came from individuals who acquired Cypriot passports, companies tied to them, and various legal entities.
The parties that received these donations include DISY, DIKO, EDEK, DIPA, and ELAM.
Who gave and how much?
Individuals who were naturalized through the program donated around €180,000 to DISY and AKEL, according to the donation registries submitted by the parties, which were cross-checked with the list of passport recipients provided by the Interior Ministry.
In addition, political parties received another €299,500 from companies connected to those naturalized individuals. These contributions went to DISY, DIKO, ELAM, and DIPA.
Company donations
The Audit Office also flagged a total of €645,110 in donations from firms involved in providing naturalization services. These were split among:
DISY: €251,600
AKEL: €118,660
DIKO: €248,850
EDEK: €3,000
DIPA: €23,000
Legal but under the spotlight
In its special report titled “Summary Report of Compliance Audit Findings on Parliamentary Political Parties for 2016–2021,” the Audit Office clarified that these findings were published in the name of transparency. It made no claim that the political parties violated the Political Parties Law by accepting the donations.
Read the full report in Greek here.
*This article was translated from its Greek original
