Cyprus Mail 6 November 2019 - article by Evie Andreou
The cabinet on Wednesday decided to revoke 26 citizenships, which had been granted through the citizenship-by-investment programme.
The decision was announced by Interior Minister Constantinos Petrides after a four-hour cabinet meeting.
No names of the revoked passport holders were immediately released.
It follows reports detailing the process by which the government granted citizenship to Malaysian businessman Jho Taek Low, now wanted by authorities in his country and elsewhere in connection with financial crimes.
It also followed revelations last month that Cypriot passports had been granted to the wealthy relatives and allies of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in 2016 and 2017.
Jho Low received citizenship four years ago.
Earlier this year, the government, responding to criticism about lax procedures, introduced much tougher criteria for the scheme and has also decided to use the services of three companies to carry out due diligence checks on all applicants.
Last month the cabinet said it would investigate citizenships granted under the previous procedures.
The programme, which was introduced in 2014 when economy was in deep recession, is said to have generated €6 billion by the end of 2018 and that some 4,000 Cyprus passports had been issued to third-country nationals that invested in the country.
