Statement by AKEL C.C. Spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou on the Audit Office’s Report on the corruption passports
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 12th April 2021, Nicosia
The Audit Service Report on the 221 ‘golden’ passports issued by the Anastasiades-DISY government substantiates for the umpteenth time irregularities, privileged treatment and the loss of revenues amounting to millions of euros for the public sector.
The case of the granting of citizenships to executives of a company associated with the investment of the Ayia Napa marina is just one of the scandalous cases that confirms the rotten way the government planned, organized and operated the golden passport industry. It also confirms that Nikos Anastasiades’ family environment and law firm are behind everything in the golden passports scandal. Nikos Anastasiades and DISY are the moral and natural perpetrators of the scandal that has discredited our country. Not only did they loosen the criteria, but they subsequently also violated the weakened criteria.
A major issue is raised concerning the tens of millions of euros that the Cypriot state has lost from the taxes that were not paid on the transactions regarding the golden passports. A special audit control is demanded to determine who complied and who did not with regards the payment of taxes. This money belongs to the Cypriot state and must be claimed.
