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211. Von der Leyen: rule of law violations through 'golden passports' won't be tolerated

The European Commission has prepared the first annual report the rule of law in EU member states, to be published later in September, Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said Wednesday, indirectly referring to the Cyprus Investment Program....

212. Yiolitis clarifies role in passport applications

Cypriot Justice Minister Emily Yiolitis has issued a statement on Twitter concerning her involvement in “golden passports” applications during the time when she was a founding partner at a law firm...

213. 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”....

214. Passports under the watchful eye of the Commission

215. AG announces makeup of new committee to probe passports scheme

Attorney General George Savvides announced the members of the newly-established four-member committee tasked with probing the entire length of the Cyprus Investment Program, which was introduced in 2007....

216. Cyprus to strip seven of citizenship granted through investment scheme

The Republic of Cyprus has begun the process of stripping seven people of Cypriot citizenship granted through the Cyprus Investment Program after a special committee found them in violation of current stricter criteria, President Nicos Anastasiades said in an interview with AFP on Friday. ...

217. Politics turn ugly over Cyprus Papers

The main left party opposition in the Republic of Cyprus is firing back at the government, after reports emerged over threats and a confidential letter about Cypriot golden passports a decade earlier...

218. New committee to probe entire length of Cyprus Investment Program

The Cabinet on Thursday agreed to appoint an independent investigative committee to look into all passports granted through the Cyprus Investment Program from 2008 until July this year, when stricter rules were implemented....

219. Greek citizenship to require written exams, interview

Foreign nationals in Greece wanting to acquire citizenship will have to sit and pass written examinations, testing their knowledge of the Greek language, geography and history, according to an Interior Ministry bill that has been submitted for public consultation until September 10. ...

220. Cabinet throws ball in attorney general’s court

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades is calling on the state’s attorney general to appoint yet another committee to probe golden passport applications to settle a dispute between the auditor general’s office and the interior ministry over the “Cyprus Papers”...

221. Golden passports scheme to remain as is

The citizenship-by-investment program will not be terminated, nor will it be suspended for a short period as a way of managing the crisis developing crisis, the government decided during its Tuesday morning coffee at the Presidential Palace. What was strongly tabled was that a potential freezing or termination of the investment program at this point in time would send a message that the government is acting in light of the Al Jazeera publications, and that by extension, that it accepts them....

222. Fierce battle over ‘Cyprus papers’

A fierce battle over documents has began following Al Jazeera’s “Cyprus papers” on golden passports, with the audit office demanding to examine specific files and the interior ministry refusing to hand them over...

223. Curtain rising for citizenship-by-investment program

The Presidency has before it four scenarios for dealing with the issue of purchased citizenships. The most likely possibility is that of suspending the investment program for a short period, as revealed by Kathimerini on Sunday....

224. House President calls for suspension of 'golden passports' scheme

House President Demetris Syllouris has formally suggested to President Nicos Anastasiades that the Cyprus citizenship-by-investment scheme is paused until decisions for its improvement or even complete termination are taken, and called for a meeting of party leaders to discuss the scheme that has recently attracted international attention after a document leak led to a series of articles and videos published by the media network Al Jazeera....

225. EU mulls legal action against Cyprus 'golden passports'

The foreign media network Al Jazeera, that has this week been publishing a series of articles and videos on the murky side of the Cyprus ‘golden passports’ program after it was leaked classified documents, reported that the European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders is looking into the possibility of legal action against Cyprus....

226. Cyprus takes a stab at Al Jazeera 'propaganda'

The daily publication of reports by the foreign media network Al Jazeera targeting the Cyprus citizenship-for-investment programme after gaining possession of over 1,400 leaked documents has sent the Cyprus government rushing to set the record straight....

227. Al Jazeera journalist denies political motives

Cypriot Interior Minister Nikos Nouris is expected on Wednesday to provide answers to Al Jazeera’s “golden passports” story, while the network has rejected accusations of political motives behind the story...

228. Cyprus police looking into Al Jazeera document leak

Cyprus law enforcement officials have been investigating since June 3 how the foreign media network Al Jazeera, that has this week published a series of articles and videos on the island’s citizenship-by-investment program, got hold of the leaked documents on which it built its exposé....

229. Cyprus 'golden passports' under more scrutiny

A foreign investigative report says leaked documents from the Republic of Cyprus suggest the island’s government violated its own rules in granting “golden passport” citizenships, with Cypriot officials denying the accusations and raising credibility issues over the report...

230. Cyprus 'golden passports' get popular amid pandemic

The Republic of Cyprus’ investment-for-citizenship program proved to be the second most popular scheme of the sorts amid the global pandemic, with new citizenship applications during the first quarter of 2020 marking a 75% increase compared to the same period last year....

231. Beirut blast has eerie connections to Cyprus

Following Tuesday’s deadly explosion in Lebanon, some eerie connections began to emerge in Cyprus, including a Russian national based in Limassol and a Hezbollah-related arrest on the island back in 2015...

232. Cyprus gets tough on golden passports

A House emergency bill that could allow authorities to revoke dozens of Republic of Cyprus “golden passports” is said to eliminate grey areas that so far prevented the state from revoking ill-gotten investor citizenships...

233. Cabinet approves stricter regulations for citizenship-by-investment scheme

The Cabinet on Wednesday approved new regulations to the citizenship-by-investment program, an important provision of which ties the program to anti-money laundering legislation, interior minister Nikos Nouris said. ...

234. Cyprus 'golden visa' scheme returns to spotlight

Cyprus’ controversial citizenship-by-investment scheme was thrust into the spotlight once again after the investigative journalism platform Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) published an in-depth report on the granting of a ‘golden passport’ to a senior member of the Saudi royal family and six of his family members....

235. Mixed reviews on anti-money laundering

A US State Department anti-money laundering report on Cyprus includes fewer negative references but still points to vulnerabilities in the island’s financial services and gaming sectors...

236. Interior Minister talks migration, Cyprus investment program with EU officials in Brussels

Interior Minister Nicos Nouris informed the EU Commission’s Vice-President Margaritis Schoinas on Cyprus’ needs and the issues the country faces in dealing with the increased flow of migrants, ahead of the presentation of relevant proposals by the Commission next month....

237. Jho Low reportedly spotted in Wuhan

Malaysian fugitive financier Jho Low, whose Cypriot passport came under scrutiny last year, has been spotted in China’s Wuhan, a city under lockdown due to the Coronavirus...

238. President says use of Saudi-businessman owned jet not a violation of Ethics Code

President Nicos Anastasiades acknowledged on Thursday that he could have avoided using a private jet belonging to a Saudi businessman for a family holiday in the Seychelles, but denied that he was in violation of the Ethics Code....

239. Cyprus 'golden passports' scheme a laundering risk, says watchdog

A European money laundering watchdog has cautioned that a secretive investment-for-passports programme run by Cyprus was vulnerable to money laundering and fraught with risk...

240. Cyprus' plan to strip citizenship stalls in legal vacuum

A legal technicality has led Cyprus to temporarily halt a process to strip citizenship from 26 individuals who benefitted from a secretive passports-for-investment scheme, lawmakers said on Monday....