The long-running criminal case stemming from Cyprus’ disgraced Citizenship-by-Investment (CBI) scheme hit another snag on 14 September when prosecutors filed 25 additional charges against five of the ten defendants, forcing the Nicosia criminal court to postpone proceedings until 19 October. Former transport minister Marios Demetriades and nine co-defendants—among them lawyers and property developers—stand accused of bribery, influence-peddling and money laundering tied to the award of “golden passports” between 2014 and 2018. The new counts, which include three fresh money-laundering allegations, were delivered to defence lawyers barely 24 hours before the scheduled start of the trial. Defence counsel Elias Stefanou argued the late additions change the “shape” of the indictment, while the prosecution maintained the evidence had already been disclosed during discovery. The court set 23 September for the defence to respond and flagged that more witnesses may now be called. For corporate relocation specialists, the adjournment is less about courtroom drama than about the future of investor mobility options in Cyprus. The CBI programme was formally abolished in November 2020 after an Al Jazeera undercover report showed officials allegedly willing to facilitate passports for fictitious Chinese criminals; since then the European Commission has opened infringement proceedings against Cyprus and Malta, and the European Parliament is debating an EU-wide ban on investor citizenship. Although Cyprus replaced CBI with a tightened permanent-residence-by-investment pathway under Regulation 6(2), the trial keeps international scrutiny alive. Risk teams advising HNWIs should note that any eventual convictions could trigger retroactive passport revocations under Article 113B of the Civil Registry Law. Companies employing CBI passport-holders may need to reassess right-to-work documentation if citizenship is annulled. The case is also influencing EU negotiations on a mandatory due-diligence framework for all golden-visa programmes, expected in early 2027.
Source: Cyprus Mail
