One minister “took an active part in the cabinet’s decision-making process”

When I read the charges against former minister Marios Demetriades, I found it strange that the third charge against him is: “active participation in the decision-making of the Council of Ministers in a manner that suggests bribery.”

We will learn the details during the trial, but this accusation struck me as very strange.

The Minister of Transport took an active part in the decision-making of the Council of Ministers, but the ministers responsible for the golden passport scheme did not participate actively. This also applies to the Ministers of Finance and Interior, and even the Ministers of Justice, who acted more as observers.

These ministers are exempt from any criminal liability, in the capital letters of the 2021 investigative committee led by Myron Nicolatos. The committee’s report stated that there were acts of the Council of Ministers that went beyond the law, “but which do not entail criminal liability”, because it was not established that they were made intentionally and with the aim of deceiving.

Now, however, a minister from that same Council of Ministers is accused of participating in a manner that suggests bribery. Even if Demetriades is convicted, the sordidness of this enormous scandal will continue to overshadow the Cypriot state. The crux of the matter is that those responsible for protecting the public interest never accepted their duties. And that was none other than the political leadership and the state bureaucracy.

For 13 years, from 2007 to 2020, the Citizenship by Investment Programme “operated with gaps and shortcomings, without an adequate legislative framework and almost no regulatory framework,” the report said. “Safeguards were lacking, as were proper legal guidance and sufficient controls.”

The Ministry of the Interior had “lawyer opinions in its possession in 2015 and 2016, according to which the exceptional naturalization of relatives of investors may have been illegal.” It had letters and recommendations from the European Commission, but ignored them and continued the same practice until 2020.

The late Socrates Hasikos described this vividly in his testimony before the Investigative Committee. “What they measured then to make us pass (i.e. to have naturalization approved) was the submission of the sales and purchase document regarding the finances that the Ministry of Finance did, the checks, etc., is it okay? Tick-tick and they got it, that was the story…” Tick, tick, and someone would get a European passport.

He even revealed that the government relaxed the criteria because of pressure from different stakeholders. “Then there was a mania where different people, for their own interests, were bringing in applicants, whether they were developers, lawyers or accountants. It was a war and I assure you that it was very dangerous for the minister at that time to deal with these people.”

Were these developers, lawyers and accountants some kind of mafia, extortionists or godfathers of the night? And even if they were, who was responsible for protecting the Cypriot state from them? How did they protect the state when they listened to these terrorists and relaxed the criteria repeatedly? The first relaxation took place in 2013, right after the haircut. Another relaxation followed in May 2013, then in March 2014 and again in September 2016.

The intermediaries were very happy with these relaxations. But not Europe. They kept sending complaints and we kept telling them to let us out of the memorandum and that we would do whatever they wanted. And when the memorandum expired, we told Europe to give us some more time and that we would solve the Cyprus issue! Yes, this was also from Socrates Hasikos’ testimony. “It was another request from the Minister of the Interior to the commission. We will solve it, we are very close to solving it…”

What happened is unbelievable. But what is even more unbelievable is that when the scandal was exposed, the plundering of a European program, and we were internationally shamed, no political responsibility was attributed or accepted.

That is why I say that the scandal will continue to haunt us, regardless of who is convicted of those who found a fertile soil to carry out their plans. Because in a well-governed state, it is those who create this fertile soil who bear the primary responsibility. The president, the ministers, the state officials. Yet they all came out of this adventure as innocent as doves.

PS The best joke in this chapter was told by President Nicos Anastasiades himself. I’ll repeat it for the laughs. When he testified before the inquiry committee, he was asked: “Your son-in-law is a member of the board of the marina. Did you know that?” He replied: “I didn’t know that.” This is about the €220 million Ayia Napa marina project, which the President himself got involved in, and the investment was announced after his meeting with the Egyptian investor in 2015. In this deal, his daughter’s husband was a director/board member of the company, but the President was unaware of it.

Why should we bother with the rest? Is it to mock each other and add to the sorrow our rulers cause?