A new stain of corruption is being revealed daily from the passport sales business
Statement by AKEL C.C. Spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 15th September 2020, Nicosia
Every day a new stain of corruption, non-transparency and abuse is being revealed around the sale-of-passports business scandal set up by the Anastasiades-DISY government.
The Auditor General’s preliminary conclusion and all that is being published about the three-member investigation committee under Mrs. Kalogirou reveal the extent and depth of the scandal. Naturalizations violating the legislative framework, investments in name only, inflation of real estate prices, reduced taxation for investors, documents of dubious authenticity and much more are coming to light. At the same time, it is confirmed that the competent Ministries of the Anastasiades government for years were like wardens directing this feast worth billions of Euros. We are of course awaiting the final findings of these investigations. However, if the government and the Ministry of Interior have nothing to hide, as they claim, then normally they should be facilitating the Audit Office in its investigations and not deny it access to all the necessary information.
The Presidency and ruling DISY party must stop hiding on the issue of the 350 naturalization applications submitted by big law firms with which the President of the Republic himself, three current members of the government and two former Ministers are associated with. Do none of them sense the glaring conflict of interest? Do they think that by being silent and covering up the matter they will finish with it?
The Anastasiades-DISY government inherited an investment program and turned it into an open market for the selling off of Cypriot citizenship, weakening the criteria and handing out passports to swindlers from all over the world. That’s precisely why they must be held to account.
