Why are they preventing the completion of the Auditor General’s investigation into the golden passports scheme?
Statement by AKEL C.C. Spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 20th October 2020, Nicosia
The European Commission is preparing to initiate legal proceedings against the Republic of Cyprus over the golden passport scandal.
This development is not a shock and we hope the government won’t pretend to be surprised again.
The government was warned at least since January 2019 with a relevant announcement of the EU. Back then Mr. Anastasiades publicly responded to the EU on the same day, accusing it of serving expediencies, claiming that Cyprus has the “strictest criteria” of all EU member states.
Until recently, this was the government’s approach. The government was stating that there is no problem with the Program. All those who were saying the opposite became the target of government attacks and were being accused of allegedly “serving foreign interests” and that “we are shooting ourselves in the foot”.
The truth, of course, is that the government was damaging the prestige and shaming the name of Cyprus around the world, with the industry of mass issuance of passports that it had set up during its administration.
If the government and the ruling DISY party are not afraid of anything and have nothing to hide, why are they preventing the completion of the Auditor General’s investigation into the “golden” passports scheme?
If the government wants real transparency, why isn’t it giving any answers about selected naturalization applications that were speeded up as a result of written orders issued by the Minister of Interior?
