The investigative investigation unit on the island obtained government documents confirming the approval of the Cyprus authorities to 1,400 applications allowing convicted criminals in their countries, or fugitives. The right to obtain a passport, after investing at least 2.15 million euros (2.6 million dollars) in the country.
The approvals granted to them are based on the Cyprus Investment Program, which allowed citizens of more than 30 countries to obtain passports, and in return allowed the government of the Greek part of Cyprus to reap billions of dollars as a result of the sale of its nationality.
The Investigation Unit on the island studied applications submitted by more than 2,500 people between 2017 and 2019 to obtain Cyprus citizenship as part of the investment program, and discovered that many of these applications violate the controls set by the state to obtain Cypriot citizenship.
The applications were submitted over a two-year period between 2017 and 2019, and some involve entire families, bringing the total number of individuals who were granted European passports to nearly 2,500.
A Cyprus passport allows its holder to travel freely to 176 countries. This makes the program desirable for individuals who hold the nationalities of countries whose citizens do not enjoy the freedom to travel without visas.
Al-Jazeera will be revealed as part of an investigative investigation that Al-Jazeera Net will soon publish under the title "Cyprus Papers"; About the identities of dozens of people who acquired Cypriot citizenship, although they should not have obtained it.
The Cyprus Papers include the names of thousands of wealthy Russians, many of whom have strong ties to the Kremlin, in addition to 500 Chinese citizens and some wealthy Arabs, all of whom are willing to pay millions of dollars to obtain an EU passport. In all, Cyprus sold passports to people of 74 nationalities during the mentioned period.
The papers reveal that a banker from a South American country was approved to be granted citizenship only 4 days before the United States announced that he was the main person in an illegal scheme to launder about $ 2.4 billion.
There is another group of people whose names were mentioned in the "Cyprus Papers", whose identities will not be revealed by Al Jazeera for the sake of their safety, including a woman who secretly kidnapped Chinese security agents in Hong Kong, and the names of a number of figures from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were covered up. The number of requests submitted by its citizens to obtain Cypriot passports since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, accused of involvement in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, came to power.
The government of Cyprus told the island that it tightened the procedures for obtaining citizenship in exchange for investment in 2019, and confirmed that "citizenship was not granted in any way that violates the procedures in place at the time."
It pledged to strip some naturalized Cypriots of their nationalities if found guilty of serious felonies. Based on a law passed in July 2020, allowing the Mediterranean island to do so. Cyprus' Interior Minister says that as a member of the European Union it operates in a completely transparent manner.