Cyprus Court Clears Former Speaker in High-Profile Passport Scheme

A Cypriot court has acquitted former parliamentary speaker Demetris Syllouris on corruption charges tied to a controversial citizenship-for-investment scheme. The court found no evidence of intent or fraud involvement. The scheme, abolished in 2020, was criticized for inadequate oversight and EU warnings were ignored.

A Cypriot court has exonerated former parliamentary speaker Demetris Syllouris of corruption allegations tied to a controversial citizenship-for-investment initiative, which had sparked widespread public outrage and caught the attention of the European Union.

Syllouris, alongside former lawmaker Christakis Tziovannis, faced charges of conspiracy to defraud and abuse of power related to seeking passports for foreign investors. Both denied the charges, and the three-judge Criminal Court in Nicosia found the prosecution unable to prove intent or fraudulent involvement.

Syllouris resigned as speaker in 2020 after Al Jazeera aired undercover footage showing him and Tziovannis discussing ways to help a fictional investor with a criminal record obtain a Cypriot passport. Despite the controversy, Syllouris maintains his innocence, saying, "I was, and remain, clean." The contentious programme, which issued over 7,000 passports from 2007 to 2020 mainly to Russian and Chinese investors, was later cancelled due to inadequate oversight, ignoring EU warnings, and perceptions of deep-rooted corruption.

(With inputs from agencies.)