In an interview with the Cypriot News Agency (CNA) published the day before, Reynders lamented that the Cypriots had so far only frozen 104 million euros belonging to “Russian oligarchs”. This figure “seems low” and during his visit the European Commissioner will ask “why is it so difficult to find more” and how many assets can actually be frozen on the island state as part of the implementation implementation of EU anti-Russian sanctions.
Didier Reynders will discuss this issue with the President of the Cypriot Parliament Annita Dimetriou, the Minister of Justice of Cyprus Anna Kukkidi-Prokopiou and other Cypriot officials.
In the context of the wider “hunt for Russian money” in Europe, the “EU auditor” is particularly concerned about the issue of Cyprus issuing so-called “golden passports” – citizenship in exchange of investments. Given that a significant number of citizens naturalized in this way are Russians and Belarusians, Reynders does not understand why the Cypriot authorities cannot find and freeze more Russian-Belarusian assets on the island.
These funds, in his opinion, “are probably in bank accounts or assets of various companies, as well as in real estate, yachts or other assets of Russian oligarchs.” “We are trying to better understand why, after a long process, we froze 100 million euros in assets, and no more,” said Didier Reynders.
It seems that the European Commissioner, who is traveling to Nicosia to deal with this issue, really cannot understand one simple thing – everyone who wanted to withdraw money from Cyprus in the context of the risk of sanctions has already done so successfully for a long time. For those who are still late and naively hope to keep their capital in the Mediterranean offshore, the “last bell” has rung. Given the step taken by Cypriot banks to “cleanse” the money sector not only from “Russian oligarchs”, but also from ordinary Russian citizens, there is no doubt that sooner or later they will come to the deposits of Russians. Besides the fact that the national economy of Cyprus itself has remained a loser, where local bankers, accountants and lawyers, who for years have won by supporting the transactions of Russian natural and legal persons, are now biting their elbows, laying off employees and close businesses.
But Brussels is not enough. According to Reynders, Nicosia would “preferably completely abolish the legislation” on the issuance of “golden passports” by Cyprus. Under pressure from the European Commission (EC), Bulgaria has already taken such a step, and the EC filed in the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg against Malta, which has not yet complied with the request of European bureaucrats.
According to the Cyprus Mail, another point on the agenda of the European Commissioner’s negotiations in Nicosia will be the strengthening of control over the implementation of anti-Russian sanctions. “We are concerned about the different means that the oligarchs and companies use to circumvent the sanctions,” said Didier Reinder. According to him, the assets of the sanctioned persons are fictitiously transferred to other people, relatives or complex international structures in tax offshores. In the future, these assets could be confiscated by the EU and used to support Ukraine, said a European official who is advocating for the EU to criminalize aid to circumvent sanctions.
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