Cypriot president defends himself in the “golden passport” case

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades defended the granting of citizenship to non-EU citizens if they invested generously in his country.

It has been reported that more than 3,500 people have obtained a European Union passport in the past ten years through the Cyprus program, after investments of 2.5 million euros for the passport (2.9 million dollars), according to German News Agency.

An investigation is being conducted in each case separately, to determine whether the granting of citizenship was obtained legally.

Cyprus has ended the so-called “golden passport” td plan in 2020, but the legal repercussions continue and the president has thrown himself into trouble.

It is suspected that Nikos Anastasiades benefited from the cash-for-passports program and thus had to testify in Nicosia before a committee of parliamentarians and lawyers.

The president’s defense focuses on the amount of money that passports brought into the state coffers, as he said that the total investment amounted to 9 billion and 700 million euros, which was money that was urgently needed, especially after the financial crisis in the country in 2013.

The European Commission has taken legal measures against Cyprus, saying that setting a price tag for European Union citizenship violates the spirit of the law, noting that the Commission is taking similar measures against the island of Malta, which has engaged in a similar scheme.

Source: dpa

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