Reported by
Cypriot political parties received more than 1 million euros in donations connected to the country’s controversial “golden passport” program, according to the country's Auditor General.
Before the Cyprus Investment Program was shut down amid allegations of corruption, foreigners could obtain citizenship by purchasing real estate worth at least 2 million euros. The scheme reportedly brought an estimated 9 billion euros into the country over the course of 13 years.
The Auditor General published its series of reports on Tuesday — one overview and eight more scrutinizing donations to specific political parties. The reports analyzed a total of 1.12 million euros worth of funds donated between 2016 and 2021 by individuals and corporate entities linked to the citizenship program.
Cyprus scrapped the program in late 2020 after an Al Jazeera investigation uncovered two politicians offering advice on how an investor could circumvent regulations and obtain a passport even with a criminal past.
Haridimos Tsoukas, a professor at University of Cyprus, said the Auditor General’s reports showed that “nearly all parties are implicated” in benefitting from the scheme.
“The reports confirm and reinforce what we already know: the most pressing political problem in Cyprus today is tackling corruption and cronyism,” Tsoukas told OCCRP’s member center, CIReN.
The Auditor General noted that donations did not come directly from foreigners, which would be illegal under Cypriot law. Instead donations were made by Cypriot companies linked to citizenship applicants. Some individuals made political donations after they were naturalized.
The DISY, which was the ruling party during the period analyzed, received 676,100 euros in donations from investors or companies. In two cases, the Auditor General noted, applicants received approvals of their citizenship within two weeks of donations made by “legal entities associated with (them).”
“The difference in the number of days is very small and the large sums are cause for concern,” the report stated.
Onoufrios Koulla, a spokesperson for the DISY, told CIReN that the applications had actually been approved months before citizenship was officially granted.
“We have no issue for those cases to be checked if they complied with the criteria granting citizenship,” Koulla said.
“As far as the donations from investors or company beneficiaries to the golden passports scheme, those donations concern small amounts across the span of six years, and the full sums are declared,” he added.
The main opposition parties at the time, DIKO and AKEL, received 278,850 euros and 133,660 euros, respectively.
Giorgos Koukoumas of AKEL said the party had received donations from legal entities that had “historically contributed.” He added that the party also received donations from “two naturalized individuals amounting to 15,000 euros,” with each sum arriving almost three years after citizenship had been granted.
A spokesperson for DIKO did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication. However the party’s general secretary, George Solomou, told Alpha TV that “we do not believe there is anything blameworthy concerning DIKO.”
Three smaller parties received donations totaling 36,000 euros, the Auditor General's reports said.
The audits found that property developers were the biggest donors to political parties during the passport program period. Developers made up around 23 percent of all donations to both DISY and AKEL, and almost 30 percent of those to DIKO.
While the citizenship decisions were made by a Council of Ministers, Cypriot law required Parliament to be informed about approvals before they were officially granted.
Theano Kalavana, who heads the OPEK Association for Social Reform, a civil society group, said Parliament should have taken more of an oversight role.
“They have never taken any real responsibility for the golden passport scandal, nor for the broader phenomena of corruption and conflict of interest,” she said.
