The Anastasiades government issued more than 6,300 passports
Statement by AKEL C.C. Spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 3rd November 2020, Nicosia
Interior Minister Mr. Nouris was forced today to tell the truth about the real number of passports issued by the Anastasiades government, which ultimately is greater than any calculation. The Anastasiades government granted more than 6,300 passports, while more than 1400 applications are pending.
More specifically, from 2013 to mid-August 2020, the government granted passports to 3,137 investors and another 3,177 members of their families. That is to say, to their wives and partners, parents, in-laws, children and even second wives of investors!
These numbers are obviously far from what the government has been saying all along. Mr. Nouris at the press conference last August spoke about 4,000 naturalizations that have been since 2007. The study of the Ministry of Finance last September spoke about less than 3,000 naturalizations from 2013 to the end of 2019.
- Why did the government hide from citizens, the media and from the European institutions the real number of passports it issued?
- Why does it hide the fact that with its own decisions it dismantled the criteria and issued passports even to in-laws of investors, as a result of which the number of citizenships were doubled?
- Who will take on responsibility for the fact that the proceedings initiated by the EU against Cyprus for the program set up by the Anastasiades government?
- And of course the crucial question remains unanswered: In what other European country are the President and the government’s Ministers associated with law firms and business interests that earn tens of millions from a program they themselves set up and ran on their own?
The government is called upon to provide answers.
