Cyprus president has invited foreign experts to help with Russian sanction evasion investigations
The president of Cyprus says he personally asked an unnamed “third country” to send an experienced team of financial crime experts to help the east Mediterranean island nation with investigations into old and new allegations that Cypriot financial serv...
NICOSIA, Cyprus — The president of Cyprus said Monday he personally asked an unnamed “third country” to send an experienced team of financial crime experts to help the east Mediterranean island nation with investigations into old and new allegations that Cypriot financial service providers helped Russian oligarchs skirt international sanctions.
President Nikos Christodoulides told The Associated Press in an interview that he wants “absolutely no shadows” cast over the European Union member country because any adverse publicity would hurt efforts to attract “quality” foreign investment.
The president said “many” probes into alleged sanctions evasion are currently running but wouldn’t give details.
His request was accepted, and the foreign experts will assist a team of seven police investigators in sifting through old and new media reports alleging that Cyprus-based lawyers and accountants shifted Russian oligarchs’ money through a murky network of companies and trusts in order to avoid their seizure in line with sanctions related to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The latest allegations came in several stories published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists last week. They cited leaked documents claiming to show how some Cypriot firms helped Russian oligarchs move their money around to evade sanctions.
Christodoulides said the foreign experts would assist their counterparts in how to better conduct their investigations while expediting the process to show
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