A three-year investigation into Cyprus's "golden passport" scheme has ended, finding no proof of criminal activity. The investigation clears the former President's political party and his family members of any legal wrongdoing. The Cyprus Independent Authority Against Corruption looked into a complaint from an opposition politician. It found no evidence that political donations were connected to granting citizenship. It also found no illegal activity in a disputed property sale that involved the former president's son-in-law.
The investigation began after an MP alleged that granting citizenship to 13 foreign investors was linked to a €4.7 million property deal. This 2008 sale involved a building owned by a company belonging to Yiannis Misirlis, who is the former president's son-in-law. The buyer was a bank owned by one of the investors, a Russian billionaire. After more than three years, the Authority's report stated it found no testimony connecting the citizenship approvals to donations. It also said there was "no suggestion" that corruption offences had been committed.
However, the investigation faced major difficulties and has been criticized. The Authority reported it could not find anyone from the Russian bank to interview, as it stopped its operations in Cyprus in 2019. The opposition MP, Christos Christofides, said the long delay weakened the investigation. He argued that even if no laws were broken, the situation still represented a clear conflict of interest from a moral perspective.
The structure of the Authority itself was also criticized. Christofides pointed out a "visible conflict of interest" because its officials were originally appointed by the same government that was indirectly under investigation. This, he claims, damaged the Authority's image of being objective. Media reports have echoed this, with one newspaper calling the Authority a "toothless body" whose findings have no legal power and do little to fight corruption.
With the legal case now closed, the public discussion is shifting to whether the country's anti-corruption systems are effective. The opposition MP is demanding the publication of another official report, ensuring the issue stays in the news. The controversy has therefore changed from a story about alleged corruption into a larger debate about the institutions that are supposed to prevent it.