NICOSIA, Cyprus: For Cypriots, it was a collective “here we go again” moment. In April, the US and the UK included a handful of Cypriot nationals and Cyprus-registered companies on a list of “enablers” helping Russian oligarchs skirt sanctions. It was an unwelcome reminder of the lingering percepti
The Cyprus government has since begun revoking citizenship in the most egregious cases. So far, revocation procedures have begun for 68 investors and 165 family members — most of them Russians.
“When there’s a rotten apple ... It must be removed. And I repeat, we’re not here to offer cover to anyone. I want to be perfectly clear,” President Nikos Christodoulides recently told reporters in response to criticism that he is bending to the will of London and Washington. Networks or not, sanctioning Cypriot individuals and business was another blow to the island’s reputation. Finance Minister Makis Keravnos said there was an upside in that it affords authorities an opportunity to clean house.
Both the Cyprus Bar Association, which regulates 4,362 lawyers and 1,963 companies as well as the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus which counts 5,700 members and some 1,100 licensed entities, have told The Associated Press that they have in place robust supervisory procedures – including on-site inspections — to ensure their members comply with sanctions regimes.
Nonetheless, it is understood many remain unpaid weeks after the sanctions announcement, despite a government decision to unfreeze accounts and “normalise” a situation that Keravnos conceded had unsettled the financial services sector.
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