The first cases involving the violation of European sanctions against Russian oligarchs are expected to reach the court soon, according to a source closely following the investigations.
Final decisions are anticipated to be made next Monday.
The crucial meeting between investigators from the special unit probing these cases and the Attorney General has been scheduled for December 4th.
During this meeting, the focus will primarily be on the two cases that have been pending with the Legal Service for some time, along with the other cases currently under investigation.
It is not ruled out that the two cases studied by the Legal Service may be returned to the investigators with instructions to proceed with prosecution if there is a legal basis for it.
As previously stated to Phileleftheros by Christos Andreou, the Police Spokesperson, a total of five cases were investigated.
Three of them have been archived, while the remaining two are still under review. In total, the Economic Crime Investigation Office of the Police is examining 30 cases related to the possible breach of sanctions imposed by the EU on Russian billionaires.
Additionally, the investigation of five more cases is in its final stages, and they will soon be sent to the Legal Service.
The Police initiated these investigations earlier this year following reports received from various entities, including the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce, the Association of Accountants, the Cyprus Bar Association, the Central Bank, and the Ministry of Finance.
Among the cases under investigation are those involving four Russian oligarchs who were mentioned in the ‘Cyprus Confidential‘, an investigation conducted by a consortium of international journalists who scrutinized thousands of documents related to Cyprus.
Currently, the documents published by the consortium of journalists are being examined by the Police’s special unit, and if it is deemed necessary for further investigation, it will be done in coordination with the Attorney General.
The Economic Crime Investigation Office at Police Headquarters, where the team of investigators probing potential sanctions violations is based, has recently been reinforced.
These cases, as reported by the Police, are indeed challenging but not as complex as cases involving the naturalization of foreign entrepreneurs and investors. Requests are submitted to foreign countries to gather all necessary evidence to substantiate any criminal wrongdoing.
Moreover, most of the cases involve capital transfers out of Cyprus shortly before the imposition of sanctions. Legally, sanctions are considered to commence from midnight of the previous day, covering even the movement of funds, even if they were theoretically within the deadline.
Regarding the case of Russian oligarch Alexei Mordashov, George Panteli, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, stated that “reports, both from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and The Guardian, indicate that on February 28, 2022, he transferred a stake in the German company TUI worth $1.4 billion to a company owned by his partner, Maria Mordashova, while his name was included in the EU sanctions list. This case is currently under investigation and is in the final stage as all the requested documents have been obtained.”
Mr. Panteli clarified that this investigation does not concern PwC Cyprus.
The majority of the cases under investigation were reported by the competent authorities this year, while the investigations began in May 2022.
As stated to CNA by Anna Kukkidis Prokociou, the Minister of Justice, within the framework of the Ministry’s budget, the competent office of the Police, namely the European Investigation Orders and Judicial Assistance Office, received 8 requests for judicial assistance in 2023 related to violations of sanctions by the United States and the United Kingdom.
