Cyprus’ government is reportedly selling so-called “Golden Visas” to billionaire Russian oligarchs and Ukrainians accused of corruption, allowing them to get European Union passports.
The British newspaper The Guardian said Cyprus, which needed a 10-billion euro ($11.93 billion) in 2013 to save its banks and economy from collapsing – and then seized nearly half the amount of bank accounts over 100,000 euros ($119,290), many held by rich Russians – has raised more than 4 billion euros ($4.77 billion) since 2013 by providing citizenship for the billionaires despite clouds hanging over them.
That allows them the right to live and work throughout Europe in exchange for cash investment. More than 400 passports are understood to have been issued through this scheme last year alone, the newspaper said.
Before 2013 – when President Nicos Anastasiades came to power and then reneged on promises not to confiscate bank accounts and to punish bank officials responsible for the crisis – Cypriot citizenship was granted on a discretionary basis by ministers.
A leaked list of the names of hundreds of those who have benefited from these schemes, seen by the Guardian, includes prominent businesspeople and individuals with considerable political influence although none were revealed.
A former member of Russia’s Parliament, the founders of Ukraine’s largest commercial bank and a gambling billionaire are among the new names in a scheme the paper said may have failed to properly vet the security backgrounds of the applicants, who got preference because they were rich.
They were said to include an oligarch and art collector, Dmitry Rybolovlev, who bought a Palm Beach mansion from now US President Donald Trump, and a Syrian businessman, Rami Makhlouf, with close links to the country’s President, described in a leaked US diplomatic cable as a “poster boy for corruption” in war-torn Syria.
The Guardian said European politicians are worried that the visa sales – other European Union countries, including Greece, have similar practices that give residency permits to foreigners who buy properties worth more than 250,000 euros ($298,220) – could undermine citizenship in the bloc. Ana Gomes, a Portuguese MEP, described “golden visas” as “absolutely immoral and perverse”.
She told the paper that, “I’m not against individual member states granting citizenship or residence to someone who would make a very special contribution to the country, be it in arts or science, or even in investment. But granting, not selling,” she said.
She added that she had attempted several times to obtain the names of golden visa buyers in Portugal, but without success. “Why the secrecy? The secrecy makes it very, very suspicious.”
Later this year the European Parliament will debate an amendment tabled by Gomes requiring countries to carry out thorough security checks on “golden visa” applicants. The European Commission recently ordered its own inquiry into whether checks were being properly conducted.
Cyprus’ Golden Visa program scheme requires applicants to place €2 million ($2.39 million) in property or €2.5m ($2.98 million) in companies or government bonds. There is no language or residency requirement, other than a visit once every seven years.
Makhlou was first placed under US sanctions in 2008 over allegations that he had benefited from corruption but Cyprus gave him citizenship in 2010 without revealing what kind of backgrounds checks had been made.
A spokesman for Rybolovlev, who acquired Cypriot citizenship in 2012 and is worth an estimated $7.4bn according to Forbes, said it was “natural [for him] to get citizenship upon becoming an investor in Bank of Cyprus”.
He said Rybolovlev has never met Trump, and added that the Palm Beach mansion has been demolished and divided into three lots, one of which has been sold.
The anti-corruption group Global Witness demanded tougher checks in response to the findings. “All countries offering golden visas must make sure the lure of investment doesn’t mean a race to the bottom on values. That means ensuring the sharpest of checks on applicants and safeguards on process,” the group said in a statement.
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Source: thenationalherald.com
