Tycoon Humphrey Kariuki Ndegwa and his wife among 26 individuals Cyprus targets to strip of citizenship over their involvement in massive financial fraud.
Yesterday, Cypriot outlet Politis published a list of 26 foreign investors and their family members from outside the EU whose Golden Visas will be stripped by the Cyprus government.
In August, DCI, KRA, and DPP said the hunt for business tycoon Humphrey Kariuki’s investments has been expanded to Europe. Kariuki and the family are citizens of the European Island Republic of Cyprus.
Things seem to be going in shambles as previous reports had indicated that the tycoon was planning to denounce his Kenyan citizenship and remain as a citizen of Cyprus.
Others that the Cyprus government has planned to strip their Citizenship and VISAs are Jho Taek Low, a fugitive wanted for his alleged role in the 1MDB scandal. The accomplice in the embezzlement scam that was uncovered in 2015, when Malaysia’s then-Prime Minister was accused of channeling over US$ 700 million from a government-run strategic development company to his personal bank accounts.
Also on the list is the Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska, currently under US Treasury sanctions, is also on the Politis list. OCCRP in 2018 reported on his acquisition of Cypriot citizenship. As well as two Russian bankers on the list who Crime Russia has previously noted are wanted in their home country on corruption charges.
“But now that the genie is out of the bottle, it will take much more than revoking 26 of the thousands of passports they extended to Golden Visa buyers for them to restore their battered credibility, especially given that its economy’s reliance on the sale of passports in the absence of transparency and accountability in all levels has grown stronger than ever,” OCCRP reporter Stelios Orphanides called the latest efforts to revoke the passports part of an effort to control damage.
On October 16th This year, Reuters published a report on Cambodian elites and their Cypriot passports. The list of those who will lose their Cypriot citizenship and Visa includes eight Cambodians with political or familial ties to Cambodia’s current ruling party.
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