DOHA: Al Jazeera’s series of reports on the Cypriot Investment Programme has sparked outrage in the island-nation with no less than Cyprus’ Interior Minister Nicos Nouris rebutting the ‘allegations’.
Al Jazeera’s expose revealed that from 2017 to 2019, Cypriot citizenship had been granted to individuals with shady pasts. Notably, Cyprus’ controls on the Cypriot Investment Programme have tightened since then perhaps because many shady individuals had passed through the net in the years concerned. Cyprus is not the only country that offers the facility. Other countries like Dominica, Grenada and Antigua, among others, also offer investment for citizenship programmes.
The amount of investment required differs from country to country as does the period in which citizenship would be granted and the investor can walk away with a passport of that nation. Cyprus has earned a few billion dollars in revenue through the programme, much needed in times of economic upheaval. ’
Al Jazeera’s programme is based on “an investigation of more than 1,400 leaked documents and the network said there were also applications for citizenship from 2,544 people, which it dubbed the `Cyprus Papers’.
Interior Minister Nouris accused Al Jazeera of deliberately trying to damage Cyprus politically and economically with its reporting on the citizenship scheme. “We have been witnessing an orchestrated effort by the Al Jazeera network, which, after succeeding in securing secret documents of the Republic of Cyprus, is attacking our country through distortion, deception and impressions,” Nouris told a news conference.
He added: “Investigative journalism is one thing, which we respect, but it is something completely different…propaganda that deliberately aims to hit the country politically and economically.”
He said: “Al Jazeera is based in a country known for its pro-Turkish positions…and is trying to hit the Republic of Cyprus with distorted and misleading information.”
Nouris said that from the first moment of publication, his ministry began investigating the 117 names published till date, all of which have been checked. “All of the persons in question, for whom we will avoid naming for obvious reasons, at the time of submission of their applications, met the criteria and were holders of clean criminal records in their countries of origin and countries of residence,” he said. Moreover, Nouris said they had also passed audits by Cyprus’s security services as well as Interpol.
Al Jazeera maintains it is not working on any country’s agenda though the investigative report has riled Cyprus.