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31. Conflict of interest raised again in passport probe

The audit office in the Republic of Cyprus is sending all its findings on golden passports to the state’s anti-corruption agency, citing a conflict of interest for the state’s two chief law enforcement officers who served as ministers during the investment scandal...

32. Cyprus cabinet revokes seven 'golden' passports

Seven passports issued under the Cyprus Investment Programme (CIP) were revoked by the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, as announced by Interior Minister Nikos Nouris today....

33. Cyprus Investment Program problematic from the start

Much ink has been spilled over the Cyprus Investment Program (CIP). From its inception in 2017 until its abolition, the CIP was a scheme wherein the Cyprus Government granted Cypriot citizenship to investors, "golden passports" as it is well-known....

34. Fair State. Five proposals to fight corruption

In the Cyprus of 2022, corruption has permeated all levels of our society. The extent of the problem needs to be ascertained first. Then, the diagnosis of its causes. Finally, but most importantly, the specific proposals to combat it....

35. Cyprus’ church wars over Ukraine quiet down

Cyprus' Tamasos metropolitan bishop Isaiah, a top contender for the archbishopric throne who fell out of favor with Archbishop Chrysostomos, traveled to Istanbul this week with the primate’s blessing, a possible signal that the island’s ugly church split over Ukraine was drawing to a quiet close ahead of possible elections...

36. Cyprus' RCB Bank and its Kremlin ties

On March 24, Cyprus’s fourth-largest bank announced it would wind down its banking operations in the wake of the “volatile geopolitical situation” caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a month earlier....

37. Cyprus struggles to find anti-corruption auditors

Efforts to assign members to a transparency commission are said to be stalling in the Republic of Cyprus, with politicians from the opposition crying foul over connections between some candidates and the country’s disgraced golden passports program...

38. More ‘Golden Passports’ revoked

The Council of Ministers decided last week to revoke the citizenship of four more Russians, including their family members, who obtained ‘Golden Passports’ under the island’s disgraced Citizenship by Investment scheme that was brought to an abrupt end in November 2020....

39. Anastasiades irked by Zelensky's failure to condemn Turkish invasion

The President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades expressed his annoyance at the failure of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, to condemn the Turkish invasion of Cyprus during his speech before the plenary session of the House of Representatives on Thursday....

40. Zelensky wants Cyprus to get tough on island’s Russians

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is urging the Republic of Cyprus to strip Russians of their golden passports 'without exception' and only ease up on dual citizens if they condemn what he called 'war crimes of their military' in Ukraine....

41. Revoking golden passports to Russians ‘impossible’

An EU recommendation to member states to recall passports issued to Russian and Belarusian oligarchs on the bloc’s sanctions list puts Cyprus in an awkward position....

42. EC calls on EU governments to end golden passport schemes

The European Commission called on EU governments on Monday to end national programs to sell citizenship to investors, also known as golden passports schemes and urged them to suspend the sale of visas to Russians and Belarusians....

43. Ukraine crisis stains church elections in Cyprus

A Cypriot theologian has blown the lid off the game of thrones in archbishopric elections on the island, suggesting anti-Russia agenda is behind efforts to take the vote away from believers who might favor a pro-Moscow candidate in order to task the Holy Synod with naming the winner...

44. The Cypriot oligarch and passports

On the first day of the invasion, Thursday, February 24, as Ukrainian cities were being bombed by the Russian army, Vladimir Putin met with 37 businessmen and members of his government to assess the impact of sanctions already imposed by the United States and members of the European Union....

45. Cyprus is losing its Russians, confronting existential questions about its economy

For decades, Cyprus built an economy that courted Russians — Russian tourists, Russian investors, Russian oligarchs. ...

46. An EU-wide ban on 'golden passports' and the Ukrainian crisis on the agenda

The European Parliament is scheduled to have its plenary session this week from the 7th to the 10th of March in Strasbourg. On the agenda will be, most importantly, the Ukrainian issue as well as a discussion on an EU-wide ban on citizenship by investment schemes....

47. Supreme Court settles golden passports legal saga

The Supreme Court in the Republic of Cyprus says a Parliament attempt last year to restrict the attorney general's role in a golden passport probe outcome was unconstitutional, after lawmakers had raised conflicts of interest for the state's chief law enforcer and his deputy...

48. Extradition case in Cyprus gets political

Cyprus is in the middle of a politically-charged extradition battle where a mother and son wanted by Chinese authorities are getting support from an American organization backed by Donald Trump’s former advisor...

49. Cyprus awaits Brussels decision on golden passports

The President’s Cabinet in the Republic of Cyprus has approved at least 390 golden passport applications despite European warnings after the program was scrapped last year, with Interior Minister Nicos Nouris saying he has already explained the logic to the European Commission but hasn’t heard back yet...

50. Jiu Jitsu producers file new lawsuit

The producers and director of the film Jiu Jitsu are suing the Republic of Cyprus, the Auditor General, the Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency and a television station for compensation in excess of 30 million euros...

51. Cyprus wants clean slate in naturalizations

The government in the Republic of Cyprus has laid out a new blueprint for naturalizations of foreign investors and skilled immigrants, pointing to a departure from the country’s disgraced golden passport scheme while respecting the EU position on citizenship criteria...

52. Nicosia reacts to new Al Jazeera video

Nicosia has refuted allegations concerning a Cypriot minister and his trips to London, in reaction to an Al Jazeera secret investigation into how convicted criminals could take on new identities and launder money through ownership of English football clubs by deceiving authorities...

53. Al Jazeera publishes prequel to The Cyprus Papers

A new documentary by Al Jazeera on football corruption in Britain includes allegations that a Cypriot minister flew to London to arrange paperwork at a consular office for a Russian national who was wanted by Interpol and unable to travel under his real name...

54. Legal defends blacked out passport report

The Legal department in the Republic of Cyprus has issued its final report on golden passports, but its decision to include privacy issues as a reason to black out information has come under media scrutiny...

55. Cyprus’ passport committee issues final report

Over half of the golden passports approved by the President’s Cabinet in the Republic of Cyprus were illegal, a special committee has found, and it is now up to the attorney general to ascertain whether any ministers may have had fraudulent intent...

56. Legal battle heats up in golden passports

The top two chief law enforcers in the Republic of Cyprus are taking the parliament to court over a resolution, in which members called on the two officials to recuse themselves in the golden passport probe after raising conflict of interest issues...

57. Syllouris declines questions in passport probe

A former Cypriot parliamentary speaker secretly filmed in an expose on a now discredited cash-for-passports scheme declined to answer questions on Wednesday into his role in a scandal which rocked the island nation...

58. Stars in Al Jazeera video face committee

59. Director wants passport probe clear his name

A civil servant, whose name was dropped by the former House speaker during a secret video recording by Al Jazeera, says he did not get involved with golden passports during his tenure as director of the interior ministry, vowing to take legal action if an investigative committee failed to clear his name...

60. Interim report on golden passports delivered

An interim report on the golden passport scandal in the Republic of Cyprus says just over half of citizenships granted by the executive branch were not approved lawfully...