The Independent Authority Against Corruption will restart the investigation into the allegations made by Akel MP Christos Christofides concerning the meddling of former President Anastasiades and the then-ruling party, Disy, in “golden passport” cases.
This was clarified during the session of the House Finance Committee by the Transparency Commissioner and head of the Authority, Haris Poyiadjis, who, along with fellow Authority member Nikos Zambakides, attended the session to discuss the approval of a €1,040,000 budget intended for the body’s needs.
Following Christofides’ statement, expressing concerns about how the Authority handled his allegations, Poyiadjis clarified that the investigation into the allegations would restart on a “proper basis” with clear mandate terms.
He attributed the shift in the investigation’s direction to the initial assessment process of Christofides’ complaints. Two of the three cases brought to the Authority’s attention by Christos Christofides, which will be investigated, involve the granting of Cypriot citizenship to foreign investors.
Christofides had previously mentioned the irregular issuance of passports to Russian bank owners accused by the Russian government of corruption, who purchased a multimillion building from a close relative of the former President, Nikos Anastasiades.
Another allegation by Christofides, according to his statements, relates to “significant financial contributions to the then-ruling party by naturalised individuals, acts that raise suspicions of bribery, extortion, or favouritism aimed at granting citizenship.”
Following the clarification of the aforementioned issue, all MPs positively approved the related budget.
Christofides’ reaction
In statements during and after the session, Christos Christofides credited the Transparency Commissioner, Poyiadjis for his stance but expressed significant concern that the appointed inspectors, despite being qualified in their fields, were not the most suitable to handle his complaints.
After the session, the MP stated, “Today, we discussed in the Finance Committee the release of a €1,040,000 budget for purchasing services for the anti-corruption watchdog. This amount mainly concerns the procurement of services from experts for the investigations conducted by the Authority on submitted allegations.
“Based on our experience, as the Authority investigates allegations we have submitted concerning corruption, and given our institutional role in overseeing public funds and institutional operations, we have raised issues today that we consider extremely important.
“The Independent Authority Against Corruption can play a decisive role in efforts to purify, cleanse, and deliver justice in public life at a time when corruption is rampant. The biggest scandal in recent years is the ‘golden passports’ scandal, and we recall the statement by the President of the Republic himself, Mr Christodoulides, at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, that the biggest price for this scandal was paid by the Republic of Cyprus and its people.
“We have thus raised serious questions and remarks on these critical issues. I was informed last Wednesday, 24 January, and it was reiterated today in front of the Committee by the President of the Independent Authority Against Corruption, Mr Poyiadjis, that the investigation into the known allegations we had submitted should, in his words, ‘restart’.
“He confirmed today that ‘some things did not happen as they should have’. Initially, I would like to thank Mr Poyiadjis for the update. However, I must emphasize that I had already publicly highlighted the problems of this process, well before publicly addressing them in letters to the Independent Authority Against Corruption. Today, we are at an impasse, discussing the restart of the investigations, essentially an investigation from the beginning.
Significant questions arise:
- How are the investigating officers selected?
- Why are experts from abroad called in for some investigations and not for others?
- It was mentioned today that experts from abroad are called in for high-profile cases (according to Mr Poyiadjis). So, what kind of cases are our allegations against the former President of the Republic and the former ruling party? Perhaps our allegations, which involved the former President of the Republic and the former ruling party, among others, were not deemed serious enough to warrant calling in experts from abroad?
- Maybe these choices of investigating officers predetermine the nature of the investigation and the possibility of conducting an in-depth investigation?
- Why is it deemed necessary for all legal investigators to be prominent practicing lawyers in some investigations, while there are no lawyers for the complaints we have submitted?
- How are the terms of the mandate defined and submitted for the investigating officers? Because, in the case of the allegations we have submitted, the investigating officers (and I do not blame them) had clarified that the terms of the mandate they received were simply to verify the validity of certain elements (their clear position is recorded in the minutes).
- With all due respect to the investigating officers, we had pointed out months ago that there would not be the experience, expertise, and knowledge for such a difficult investigation process of the former President and the former ruling party for possible corruption and other offences.
- Unfortunately, months later, our concerns and warnings are confirmed. Mr Poyiadjis admitted this today. The main responsibility does not lie with the investigating officers. I regret to observe that the entire process of investigating the allegations we have submitted has shown and continues to show significant weaknesses and does not convince that an in-depth investigation of these allegations is being conducted.”
Cyprus’ “golden passports” scheme was abolished in 2020 after an undercover investigation by Al Jazeera revealed rampant corruption and that the government approved issuing passports to international criminals and fugitives, drawing criticism from the European Union and sparking protests in the country.
