Wealthy Americans invest in foreign passports, US visa loses lustre

2020/08/05 Leave a comment

Decline in value of US citizenship and its passport, according to the citizenship-by-investment industry:

There is a must-have travel accessory that wealthy Americans are buying this year: foreign citizenship.

A financial advisory firm specialising in “global citizenship” has been inundated by requests from US clients looking to “invest” in a foreign passport, reported The Washington Post.

The Toronto-based firm Arton Capital says that there has been a 30-40 per cent increase on last year in clients looking to obtain “a second citizenship and passport by investing in the economy of the host country.”

With severe outbreaks of coronavirus closing international borders to travellers from the US, it would appear a second passport has become the final refuge of wealthy Americans.

“This limitation of mobility has made more people aware of … the benefits of having more than one passport,” Armand Arton, president of Arton Capital told The Washington Post.

In response to the high community transmission rates, many destinations are refusing inbound travel from the US for all reasons but repatriation.

These travel restrictions have been put in place for public health reasons. However, for those with enough personal wealth, it might still be possible to buy their way out.

Some governments including Portugal, the United Kingdom and the Dominican Republic offer investment-based citizenship as through “job creation and capital investment by foreign investors”. Established to attract investment into local economies, these schemes are essentially passports for sale.

The cost of these “golden visas” ranges from around $100,000 for some Caribbean nations to over $3 million for passports within the EU.

“We’ve had Americans contacting us and saying, ‘Listen, I cannot believe that my American super passport cannot get me into as many countries as it used to before. What can I do?’ “Arton says. “That was never the case for us before.”

New Zealand also offers pathways to citizenship for investors, although notably there are requirements on the amount of time a candidate has spent in the country to qualify for an “Investor” class visa.

An applicant for a class 1 Investor visa must spend an average of 30 days in New Zealand a year over a three-year period, on top of a $2.5 million investment. Due to the closure of New Zealand borders since March to all but New Zealand residents, the process has become far more difficult.

However, this hasn’t stopped wishful thinking. In June the Herald revealed that 112,800 Americans visited the Immigration New Zealand Site, a spike of 160 per cent on last year.

Unlike other pathway’s to residency, many schemes do not require claim by heritage or even having to have ever stepped foot in the country, which makes them extremely appealing as an investment.

Residency via investment it is not a quick process. For most countries it can take months even years to have residency granted. Applicants and the source of their investments are subject to scrutiny.

“The one thing that we do have to explain to clients is this will take longer than you think”, says Paddy Blewer, PR director for Henley & Partners. Applicants are up to “hardcore investigation” not only by the country granting prospective citizenship, but also the agencies themselves.

Henley & Partners which helps clients with citizenship-via-investment programmes and also keeps track of the Henley & Partners passport rankings says they are very discerning with the clients they take on.

“We do that because we care about our reputation. We do that because we want to be around for the next 20 years.”

The US also offers a pathway to citizenship though investment via the EB5 visa.

The scheme which was established in 1990 was opened up to international investors willing to put between $1.3 and $2.7million into qualifying schemes in the States.

The USCIS has granted almost 80,000 paid-for visas via the programme, though demand for US citizenship via investment tailed off dramatically since 2016. The appeal of American citizenship began to lose its lustre, even before the coronaviurs pandemic.

Last month reports by the Passport Index and Henley and Partners Passport Rankings found a dramatic reordering in the value of international travel documents. Comparing passports by the number of countries offering visa-free to holders, the US passport in particular had suffered since the outbreak the Covid 19 crisis.

The Passport Index recently recorded a 20-place fall for the US passport, with 86 countries having put a coronavirus related ban on travellers from the US.

Source: Wealthy Americans invest in foreign passports, US visa loses lustre

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Caribbean countries selling discount citizenship due to COVID hit

2020/07/28 Leave a comment

Of note. The citizenship variant of Gresham’s law in action:

Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Programs are not new to the Caribbean. Many countries in the region have been offering passports to wealthy foreigners in exchange for monetary investment for years, but with staggering post-COVID tourism losses, many passports have gone on sale. Among the countries to recently slash prices or make their CBI programmes more compelling are St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, and Dominica.

St. Kitts and Nevis, which earns around 35 per cent of government revenue from its CBI programme, was one of the first Caribbean countries to begin slashing prices.

“In these days of Covid, when tourism is not happening, we have to find ways to create revenue to sustain our economy,” said Les Khan, CEO of St. Kitts and Nevis Citizenship Investment Unit, in a phone interview with Bloomberg.

St. Kitts and Nevis is currently offering a special deal through to the end of 2020. It entails paying a contribution of $150,000 to the country’s “Sustainable Growth Fund”, which will secure, for those who can afford it, passports for a family of up to four– a 23 per cent discount off of the usual cost of $195,000.

This is a great deal when considering the fact that St. Kitts and Nevis currently has the 26th most desirable passport in the world, out of 169 countries, according to the 2020 Henley Passport Index.

In May, St. Lucia cut the required CBI investment in five-year, non-interest bearing bonds in half, to $250,000 for an individual or $300,000 for a family of four. The “special offer” on these “Covid-19 Relief” bonds expires at the end of 2020. St. Lucia’s passport ranks at number 33 on the 2020 Henley Passport Index.

In Antigua and Barbuda, a family of four can become citizens at the bargain price of a $100,000 donation to its development fund. The government recently cut the price for adding additional children. Antigua and Barbuda’s passport ranks number 29 on the 2020 Henley Passport Index.

Pre-COVID-19, Dominica offered the cheapest citizenship by investment program in the world with the cost of second passports starting at only $100,000, but the price was scheduled to increase by 75 per cent, to $175,000. According to Dominica’s CBI website, “This major cost increase has now been put on hold indefinitely, although prices could increase once the COVID-19 pandemic is over so we encourage you to act fast.” Dominica has the 38th most desirable passport in the world, according to the Henley Passport Index.

The incentives seem to be working. According to Henley & Partners, a London-based passport broker, there has been a 42 per cent increase in citizenship applications.

“‘Investment migration’ has shifted from being about living the life you want in terms of holidays and business travel to a more holistic vision that includes healthcare and safety,” said Dr Christian Kalin of Henley & Partners.

Source: Caribbean countries selling discount citizenship due to COVID hit

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Revive Canada’s immigrant investor program, IIAC says

2020/05/18 Leave a comment

Favourite line: “a formal immigrant investor program, building on the strengths of the previous federal program.”

Reality: the evaluation that showed minimal to no benefits (Evaluation of the Federal Business Immigration Programwww.canada.ca › english › pdf › pub › e2-2013_fbip – the backlog was not the issue) and census data showing lower incomes than refugees.

The Harper government correctly ended the program.

IIAC’s citing the Quebec program as a model is risable as most end up elsewhere in Canada with the same minimal impact or contribution to the economy (Douglas Todd: Time to end ‘honour system’ in Quebec’s immigrant-investor scheme).

Government should not go there as main benefits accrue to the consultants that push for such programs:

The Investment Industry Association of Canada (IIAC) has suggested that increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) in Canada could help rebuild the economy in the wake of Covid-19.

In a May 5 letter to federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau, IIAC president and CEO Ian Russell wrote that there are “tens of thousands” of foreign investors looking for permanent residence in Canada, and other countries will benefit from their wealth if Canada doesn’t.

Russell suggested the federal government could increase FDI by re-introducing “a formal immigrant investor program, building on the strengths of the previous federal program.”

The previous program, the Federal Immigrant Investor Program (FIIP), was closed in 2014 as a result of the Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, which found that large backlogs of applications tied to economic immigration programs were a major hurdle for the immigration system.

IIAC conceded that the FIIP had issues, but suggested a new program could be temporary and tied to the economic recovery from Covid-19.

“To speed up [the program’s] implementation, its structure could be similar to what exists in Quebec but with the addition of a non-refundable contribution to boost its impact,” Russell wrote. “Unlike regular investors or entrepreneurs, immigrant investors are more interested in obtaining permanent residence for themselves and their families, and having the return of their portion of capital guaranteed after a reasonable time period (5-7 years).”

The implementation of such a program would require collaboration between multiple ministries, and “the government could decide where the FDI would be best invested as per its needs for post-Covid-19 recovery,” Russell said.

Dealer firms regulated by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) could “help design, promote and support this new [FIIP] program,” Russell suggested, adding that many IIROC members were “involved in the FIIP process” and some have acted as consultants to other countries.

In data released in late February, Statistics Canada said foreign direct investment in Canada was positive in Q4 2019, but lower than what was recorded a year earlier.

Read the full IIAC letter.

Source: Revive Canada’s immigrant investor program, IIAC says

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The Ultra-Rich Are Now Buying ‘Pandemic Passports’ So They Can Move to Safer Countries

2020/05/06 Leave a comment

More citizenship-by-investment demand (so much for all being in this together and that pandemics don’t discriminate):

Wealthy travelers have been playing a game of “beat the ban” as countries have closed their borders to try to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. Getting it wrong can be very expensive, as one British couple recently learned. The pair bought two £10,000 ($12,000) first-class tickets to escape from London to Barbados, but they were so worried that British Airways would axe its service that they paid £100,00 ($125,000) to charter a private jet instead. (BA carried on flying.)

Now the super-rich are buying the ultimate insurance policy to make sure they will be able to travel to whatever virus-free, sunny bolt-hole they choose, if a second spike in Covid-19 infections triggers another global lockdown. The world’s wealthiest are snapping up multiple citizenships in countries around the world.

Henley & Partners, a London-based citizenship broker, is one of the biggest players in the nearly $4 billion-a-year “identity management” business (a.k.a. “passports for sale”). The firm’s latest figures show a 42 percent year-over-year increase in the number of people filing a formal application for a new nationality during the first three months of 2020. The number of inquiries is up by 25 percent.

“’Investment migration’ has shifted from being about living the life you want in terms of holidays and business travel to a more holistic vision that includes healthcare and safety,” Dr. Christian Kalin, the firm’s chairman, told Robb Report.

So, what exactly is convincing high net worth individuals that they need an escape plan? According to one Italian multi-millionaire who is critical of his government’s handling of the pandemic, the decision came down to two factors: the varying performance of national healthcare services and the closure of national borders, which has split up families. “We want to know there is a safe place, with good medical services, that the whole family can go to at short notice if we need to,” the millionaire told Robb Report. “Only citizenship can guarantee that.” Countries that have closed borders have continued to admit nationals returning home. Most national airlines have maintained some flights to major capitals.

The most popular “pandemic passports” or permanent residency programs are those of Australia, Antigua, St Kitts and Nevis, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Austria, Switzerland, Portugal, Cyprus, Malta and Montenegro. All offer nationality or permanent residency in return for a direct donation to the national treasury or investments in local property or businesses. It can cost as little as $100,000 per family member in the Caribbean, rising through €1 million to €2 million ($1.1 million to $2.2 million) in Malta and Cyprus, to €7 million ($7.6 million) in Austria.

Australia and Austria are particularly attractive because they not only have high-quality national health services but the government of each country acted quickly to limit the spread of the virus. The United Kingdom, which has been a magnet for the super-rich in recent years and offers residency—but not a passport—in return for multi-million-pound investments, is not considered a safe haven because critics say the government botched its handling of the pandemic by reacting too slowly to the threat and failing to ensure the National Health Service was properly prepared.

Although having funds to buy multiple citizenships gives the rich an advantage in protecting their health and lifestyle, Kalin points out that the fees and taxes they pay are a source of much-needed capital for hard-pressed governments that now have to raise funds to pay for Covid-19 emergency economic bail-out programs. “Take Antigua,” he says. “It depends on tourism and now there is none and there won’t be for some time. It needs fresh sources of funds. Citizenship by investment is one.”

Source: The Ultra-Rich Are Now Buying ‘Pandemic Passports’ So They Can Move to Safer Countries

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Wealthy Move Their Money To Tax Havens

2020/04/30 Leave a comment

As always…:

Lockdown might impact peoples’ ability to move across borders, but it doesn’t stop money flowing into tax havens around the world.

The economic shocks of coronavirus have meant that offshore financial centres such as Switzerland are back to their old tricks: Banking peoples’ money away from their more risky homelands.

UBS, a Swiss bank and the world’s largest wealth manager, announced its profits were up by 40%. In the first three months of 2020, it saw $12 billion in net new money, nearly treble the amount banked in the previous quarter.

“We successfully managed March’s high volumes and activity across our trading and client platforms, including peaks of three times the normal levels,” Sergio Ermotti, the bank’s CEO, told investors on Tuesday (April 28).

This enabled the bank to gain a higher share of wallet from its clients, Ermotti added.

Pre-coronavirus, Switzerland’s popularity for offshore banking was fading as its banking sector could no longer guarantee client secrecy. However, the country’s notorious stability combined with low COVID-19 infection rates have renewed its appeal among the international wealthy who use its private banking services.

“There are some countries where the risk of your money and your wealth being more at risk than others does potentially also lead to inflows into safe and secure places like Switzerland,” says Anna Zakrzewski, who leads Boston Consulting Group’s Global Wealth Management division.

Source: Wealthy Move Their Money To Tax Havens

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Wealthy Indians see a route to US via Grenada

2020/03/03 Leave a comment

Didn’t know about this relatively low-cost loophole:

With the EB-5 immigrant investor visa to the United States getting more expensive, wealthy Indians are turning to the Caribbean island of Grenada as a route to their US citizenship dreams.

Immigration lawyers said, in the past three months, interest in the Grenada Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programme has increased from India, as the Caribbean country has an investment visa treaty with the US. Mark Davies, the global chairman of immigration law firm Davies & Associates, said there had been a definite drop in interest towards the EB-5 programme after the US changed the investment guidelines under it.

1From November 2019, the minimum investment required under the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program had been raised to $900,000 from $500,000 in a Targeted Employment Area (TEA) and from $1 million to $1.8 million in non-TEAs. “This, coupled with a longer wait time for Indians because of an annual country cap of 700, has led people to explore other options,” said Davies, who has been working with clients in India on their EB-5 investments for almost a decade.

Davies’ firm is currently helping processes a few applications for the Grenada CBI programme. There are a lot more enquiries which are likely to convert into applications over time, he said. Turkey is another country which offers a similar route to the US. Under the Grenada CBI programme, the applicant has to make a $220,000 investment in a government-approved real estate project. What makes the country an attractive destination is that it has an E2 visa treaty with the US, wherein a Grenadian can apply for US citizenship and usually get it within three months. A US E-2 visa allows an investor to live and do business in the US in exchange for a minimum investment of $150,000. The investment must be in an enterprise that the investor is able to “develop and direct” and which is at least 50% owned by the investor. In 2018, the US processed 40,000 E2 visas. Country-wise breakups are not available.

Mohammed Asaria, who is the director of Range Investments that facilitates investments in real estate projects for citizenship in Caribbean countries, said he was seeing a lot of interest from Indians, including NRIs from the Middle East, for this programme. The quick processing time, typically 90 days for the Grenadian citizenship, and another 90 days for the E2 visa, is also a big factor driving the shift towards this. “This is no longer an outlier — at all immigration conferences, Grenada is very topical and is at the forefront at the moment,” he said.

The added advantage of this route is that it allows the spouse of the visa holder to freely work in the US and also covers dependent children under 21. And it’s not just the Caribbean island that is benefiting from the higher entry threshold for the EB-5 programme. The Republic of Cyprus, which also offers a similar programme, is emerging as another preferred option. “In the last few months, we’ve seen a lot more interest from India after the changes to the EB-5 programme,” said Dillon Bhatt, the chief of international business development at investment consultancy firm Millwood Kane International.

Source: Wealthy Indians see a route to US via Grenada

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Egypt Opens Citizenship By Investment Scheme

2019/12/18 Leave a comment

Given visa restrictions on Egyptian passport holders, not sure how attractive this will be as the article notes:

Egypt cabinet has approved new citizenship law paving way for foreign investors to seek fast track citizenship for investments in the country. The move is part of Egypt’s bid to boost its finances. Under the new citizenship by investment scheme, there are five paths to becoming an Egyptian national:

  1. Donation: $250,000 (donation to state treasury, non-refundable)
  2. Real Estate Investment: $500,000 (individuals or legal entities)
  3. Investment project: $400,000 (foreigner’s share in the project cannot be less than 40%)
  4. Bank Deposit: $750,000 (refundable after 5 years in the local currency, without interest)
  5. Bank Deposit: $1 million (refundable after 3 years in the local currency, without interest)

The amounts stipulated in the 4th and 5th items have to be deposited into a special account under the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) treasury.

Prior to the latest rules, foreigners had to live in Egypt for ten consecutive years before applying for naturalization and citizenship, in general, was transferable through a father or mother.

Dual Citizenship: Persons who become naturalized Egyptian citizens may keep their original nationality if the other country permits it.

Egypt Passport Mobility: Egypt ranked No. 168 in the CEOWORLD magazine’s Global Passport Ranking for 2019, with 49 visa-free countries– but not, notably, the United States or the UK.

  • Asia: Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Macao, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, Tajikistan, and Timor-Leste.
  • Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde Islands, Comores Islands, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zimbabwe.
  • Oceania: Cook Islands, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Niue, Palau Islands, Samoa, and Tuvalu.
  • Caribbean: Dominica, Haiti, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
  • Americas: Bolivia, Ecuador, and Nicaragua.
  • Middle east: Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, and Yemen.

Egypt has no visa-free treaty with any major economic powers, such as the United States, China, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, India, France, Italy, Brazil, and Canada. Citizenship by investment is a practice and a choice offered for many seeking a second nationality in the countries where they often travel to or have a business in.

Egypt’s economy: Egypt’s economy is projected to grow by 5.8% of GDP in 2020 and to see a growth rate of 5.7% in 2021, according to study. The annual inflation rate is predicted to fall from 13.9 percent in 2019 to 5.9 percent in 2020. Egypt’s tourism is projected to hit a record of $15.1 billion in 2020 and $17.3 billion in 2021.

It also expected an increase in the volume of foreign direct investments to register $6.3 billion in 2020 and $7.3 billion in 2021. It expected that the country’s tax revenues will rise from $43.5 billion in 2019 to $53 billion in 2020 and to $58.6 billion in 2021.

The primary budget surplus will go up by 2.1% of GDP in 2020 and 2.2% in 2021, while the fiscal balance is projected to hit $26.8 billion in 2020 and $27.3 billion in 2021.

It suggested that the foreign debt will recede to 17.2% of GDP in 2020 and to 16.7% in 2021, the country’s foreign reserves will register $43.5 billion in 2020 and $41.7 billion in 2021.

Source: Egypt Opens Citizenship By Investment Scheme

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New EU Citizenship Rule Could Force This ‘Fugitive’ Kenyan Billionaire To Return Home & Face The Music

2019/12/02 Leave a comment

Will likely be other cases as Cyprus is forced to review its citizenship-by-investment program and who it benefitted:

A new rule on dual citizenship by the European Union (EU) may soon leave ‘fugitive’ Kenyan billionaire, Humphrey Kariuki, with no other option but to return home and face the music.

The Kenyan billionaire who owns Africa Spirits and Wines of the World appeared to have fled Kenya with his wife, Stella Nasike, and found refuge in Cyprus while being probed for tax evasion to the tune of KES 41 Bn (USD 410 Mn).

But Kariuki, who holds dual citizenship from Cyprus, may soon have nowhere to run to after Cyprus with pressure from European Union decided to reconsider his Cypriot passport.

Kariuki was in the news for the wrong reasons early this year after the Director of Criminal Investigations, George Kinoti, led detectives in a major raid at his factories located in Thika where over a million bottles of assorted alcoholic drinks and 24,000 counterfeit excise stamps were seized.

However, when a warrant of arrest against him was issued, Kariuki was nowhere to be seen forcing Kinoti to seek Interpol’s help in arresting the billionaire businessman who was out of the country at the time. It later came to the fore, albeit shockingly, that the wanted man also had Cypriot citizenship.

With the Cypriot citizenship, Kariuki was pretty much untouchable. And that’s because a Cypriot passport enables one to do business throughout the European Union since Cyprus is a member.

However, Cyprus’ investor citizenship come under scrutiny of late, drawing criticism from other EU member countries and Transparency International (TI).

The groups fear that the country’s investor citizenship policies could turn it into a “gateway to Europe for corrupt people and money laundering”, as contained in TI’s August report.

Cyprus has been under pressure from the EU to tighten entry of foreigners into the scheme. And it looks like Cyprus is finally bowing to pressure.

As gathered by The Politis, The Kenyan billionaire and his spouse are among 26 investors identified by Cypriot authorities who may lose their Cypriot passports due to strict citizenship rules introduced by the European tax haven as part of a review of the 2013 policy that granted a passport to anybody who invested at least USD 2.2 Mn in the local economy.

According to various news agencies from Cyprus, the crackdown could be effected as soon as the end of this month, leaving Kariuki — who has since 2016 had dual citizenship — to only have a Kenyan passport.

Joining Kariuki on the list of prominent individuals that are soon to be ousted from their haven in Cyprus are Chinese national Zhang Shumin (reportedly linked to a gold scam), and Olag Deripaska (a Russian billionaire with ties to the Kremlin who was once Russia’s richest man).

Source: New EU Citizenship Rule Could Force This ‘Fugitive’ Kenyan Billionaire To Return Home & Face The Music

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Cyprus Report Names Those At Risk of Stripped Citizenship

2019/11/29 Leave a comment

Another illustration of those most likely to be attracted by these schemes:

Cypriot outlet Politis on Wednesday published a list of 26 foreign investors and their family members from outside the EU whose Golden Visas it says are to be stripped by the Cyprus government. Earlier reports noted the nationality of the investors, but did not name names.

Cypriot passport cover. (Photo: Council of the European Union – PRADO [CC BY-SA 4.0]Perhaps the biggest name on the list is Malaysian Jho Taek Low, a fugitive wanted for his alleged role in the 1MDB scandal — the embezzlement scam uncovered in 2015, when Malaysia’s then-Prime Minister was accused of channelling over US$ 700 million from a government-run strategic development company, to his personal bank accounts. Since then, other players involved in the scheme (including, allegedly, Low) have been pursued by authorities.

Politis’s list adds more detail to the previously reported action the Cyprus government said it would take in light of October’s massive Reuters report on Cambodian elites and their Cypriot passports. The list includes eight Cambodians with political or familial ties to Cambodia’s current ruling party.

Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska, currently under US Treasury sanctions, is also on the Politis list. OCCRP in 2018 reported on his acquisition of Cypriot citizenship.

Also facing revocation of their Cypriot citizenship are multi-millionaire businessman Humphrey Kariuki and his wife. Kariuki has been charged in his home country of Kenya for tax evasion related to his alcohol production and distribution business, according to Kenyan news reports.

As well, there are two Russian bankers on the list who Crime Russia has previously noted are wanted in their home country on corruption charges.

OCCRP reporter Stelios Orphanides noted that the Cypriot government’s original reaction to investigations into the citizenship-for-investment scheme was to “attack the press in response instead of reconsidering this practice.”

He called the latest efforts to revoke the passports “part of an effort to control damage.”

“But now that the genie is out of the bottle, it will take much more than revoking 26 of the thousands of passports they extended to Golden Visa buyers for them to restore their battered credibility, especially given that its economy’s reliance on the sale of passports in the absence of transparency and accountability in all levels has grown stronger than ever,” he said.

Source: Cyprus Report Names Those At Risk of Stripped Citizenship

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Cyprus to strip 26 ‘golden’ passports given to investors

2019/11/08 Leave a comment

Welcome move but one just highlights yet again the potential for abuse and fraud:

Cyprus said on Wednesday that it had started a process to strip 26 individuals of citizenship they received under a secretive passports-for-investment scheme, admitting it had flaws.

The Mediterranean island has been rattled by disclosures of its investments scheme since Reuters reported last month a list of Cambodian beneficiaries, including its police chief and finance minister.

“The council of ministers today affirmed the will of the government for strict adherence to the terms and conditions of the Cyprus investment programme,” the Cypriot interior minister, Constantinos Petrides, told reporters after a four-hour cabinet meeting.

Petrides did not disclose nationalities or identities of those affected, but said it “also concerned those” whose names were mentioned in media reports.

Cypriot sources said the group included nine Russians, eight Cambodians, five Chinese nationals, two Kenyans, one Malaysian and one Iranian.

They involved nine investment projects, whereby groups of foreign investors in partnership can benefit from the scheme.

Cyprus has had a citizenship for investment plan in place since 2013, under which a minimum 2 million-euro ($2.2 million) investment can buy a passport and visa-free travel throughout the European Union.

Advertising the scheme is now banned, but at least one law office used to distribute pamphlets resembling passports to visitors at the island’s main airport.

Authorities said the programme had gone through several transformations, and was overhauled in February 2019 with five different due-diligence layers, compared with one in 2013.

In the five years from the beginning of the citizenship scheme to 2018, the Cypriot government approved 1,864 citizenship applications. Including family members, the number was more than 3,200, and is close to 4,000 today.

“If there were nine investment cases, concerning 26 people, among 4,000 applications, it is logical that some would be problematic when controls weren’t strict,” Petrides said. “There were mistakes – it was a mistake not to have criteria, for instance, for high-risk persons.”

The Reuters investigation showed that influential police, business and political associates of Cambodia’s long-time ruler, the prime minister Hun Sen, had overseas assets worth tens of millions of dollars.

Hun has previously denied opposition allegations that members of his inner circle had other passports and lived the high life overseas. Some 70 percent of Cambodians live on $3 a day, according to the Asian Development Bank.

Petrides, whose ministry signs off on passport applications, said the individuals concerned had the right to appeal.

Source: Cyprus to strip 26 ‘golden’ passports given to investors

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