Cyprus’ Parliamentary President Resigns After Passports Scandal

The president of Cyprus’ parliament, Dimitris Syllouris,  on Thursday resigned after he became embroiled in a scandal around the country’s so-called golden passports scheme, state broadcaster RKI reported.
An investigation by broadcaster Al Jazeera uncovered that high-level politicians, including Syllouris and another member of parliament, were implicated in helping a criminal gain a passport through Cyprus’s investment citizenship scheme.
The investigators used hidden cameras to show Syllouris was willing to procure a passport for a fictitious Chinese national jailed for money laundering.
Justice authorities would establish what exactly happened, Syllouris said in a statement published by the Cypriot press.
President Nicos Anastasiades announced on Tuesday that the scheme, which grants Cypriot citizenship to people pledging an investment of 2.5 million euros (2.9 million dollars), would be scrapped by November 1.
The investigation uncovered a two-track application procedure for the passports, where problematic applicants paid more money to acquire the document, which automatically grants EU citizenship.
More than 3,500 people, mainly Chinese and Russian nationals, are said to have obtained an EU passport in the past 10 years through the Cypriot scheme.