News Muncher - searching for criminals

‘Investment programmes’ that tie the granting of citizenship to money can never be truly free of corruption. Al Jazeera’s investigation, The Cyprus Papers Undercover, showed how Cypriot authorities were willing to bypass regulations and even break the law to help criminals obtain European passports via the Cyprus Investment Programme. And when Al Jazeera released its investigation and demonstrated that Cyprus …

A Cypriot MP who was implicated in selling passports to criminals has quit as the country races to stem the fallout following an undercover investigation by Al Jazeera. The moves follow Al Jazeera’s The Cyprus Papers Undercover investigation, which was broadcast on Monday and showed how Giovanis was willing to help a convicted money launderer obtain a passport, even though …

The move comes after an Al Jazeera investigation showed that politicians were willing to help criminals acquire passports. On Monday, Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit released The Cyprus Papers Undercover, which showed the willingness of parliament speaker, Demetris Syllouris, and member of parliament, Christakis Giovanis, to aid and abet convicted criminals to obtain a passport through the Citizenship Investment Programme. Weeks …

Cyprus officials implicated in plan to sell passport to criminals

Several high-ranking Cypriot officials, politicians, lawyers and real estate developers are implicated in a scheme that allows criminals to buy a European passport using the country’s citizenship through an investment programme, an Al Jazeera investigation has found. Convicted Chinese businessman Cyprus’s citizenship through investment programme grants a Cypriot passport to anyone who invests at least $2.5m in the country, often …

A huge leak of confidential Cypriot government documents obtained by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit called The Cyprus Papers reveals that dozens of high-level officials and their families bought so-called “golden passports” from Cyprus between late 2017 and late 2019. The revelation comes one day after Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit revealed that Cyprus sold passports to convicted criminals and fugitives from …

Exclusive: Cyprus sold passports to criminals and fugitives

Al Jazeera has obtained over 1,400 Cypriot passport applications, revealing they were sold to criminals and fugitives. The Cyprus Papers are a batch of leaked documents obtained exclusively by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit, containing more than 1,400 approved applications for the Cyprus Investment Programme run by the Republic of Cyprus. The programme allows people to buy a Cypriot passport, and …