Police request for 'golden passports' documents from Parliament unconstitutional, lawyers say

Lawyers from whom Parliament requested advice after law enforcement officials said they would crack down on the Cyprus Papers whistleblower(s) said Parliament’s non-compliance with police requests for documents relating to the investment scheme is reasonable, as such a request is “not constitutionally legitimate”.

"We consider that based on the facts of the specific case, and taking into account the authorities, which set themselves above the framework of institutional protection of the functional autonomy of the House of Representatives, compliance with the specified document presentation order submitted to the House of Representatives without its consent and without the permission of the Supreme Court to carry out the specific investigative acts, it is not constitutionally legitimate and consequently there is a reasonable justification for non-compliance with it,” the document submitted to Parliament states.

The legal advice bears the signatures of lawyers Andreas Angelides, Christos Triantafyllides, and Achilleas Emilianides, from whom Parliament requested advice on September 3 on how to respond to the requests of the Cyprus police in view of its investigation into the leak of documents relating to the Cyprus Investment Program to the foreign media network Al Jazeera.

In the framework of its investigations, a three-member police force stormed into Parliament premises on September 1 and delivered a letter to the Secretary General of Parliament requesting specific documents on citizenships granted to foreign investors through the ‘golden passports’ scheme.

Police also requested statements from certain Parliament officials, basing their actions on Article 6(1) of Criminal Procedure Law, Chapter 155.