Cyprus court clears ex-officials in cash-for-passport scheme

Feb 17 (Reuters) – A Cypriot court acquitted former parliamentary speaker Demetris Syllouris on Tuesday of corruption charges linked to a scrapped citizenship-for-investment scheme that triggered public outrage and intense European Union scrutiny.

Syllouris was tried alongside former lawmaker Christakis Tziovannis, who was also acquitted, on charges of conspiracy to defraud and abuse of power linked to efforts to secure passports for foreign investors. Both had pleaded not guilty.

In a majority ruling, the three-judge Criminal Court in Nicosia said prosecutors had failed to prove intent or establish involvement in fraud.

Syllouris, once second in the state hierarchy, stepped down as speaker in 2020 after undercover footage aired by Al Jazeera showed him and Tziovannis discussing ways to help a fictitious investor with a criminal record obtain a Cypriot passport. The footage was not part of the judicial process.

“I was, and remain, clean,” Syllouris told reporters outside the courthouse. “Corruption and collusion results in wealth, and I have no wealth.”

Authorities later scrapped the programme, under which more than 7,000 passports were issued between 2007 and 2020, in a scheme popular with Russian and Chinese investors. 

A state inquiry found approvals were granted under procedures lacking adequate oversight while ignoring warnings from the European Union on the scheme, fuelling perceptions of entrenched corruption.

(Writing by Michele Kambas, editing by Andrei Khalip)