The hearing in the citizenship case began on Monday before the Nicosia Criminal Court, with the presentation of evidence. Among those accused is former Transport Minister Marios Demetriades.
The first prosecution witness to testify was police officer A.A. of the Police Headquarters Criminal Investigation Department. She adopted her written statement and presented a series of documents as exhibits before the court.
The exhibits mainly concern documents relating to the naturalisation of people from Cambodia and China who had obtained Cypriot passports.
Elias Stephanou, one of the defence lawyers, informed the court of his intention to object to specific exhibits, which are expected to be presented at upcoming hearings.
The next hearing has been set for tomorrow, Tuesday, at 09:30.
The case concerns Cyprus’ investment-for-citizenship programme and the procedures for approving passports for foreign investors. Ten people are accused in total: eight individuals and two legal entities.
The accused include former Transport Minister Marios Demetriades, his father Andreas Demetriades, as well as Dimitris Demetriades, George Demetriades, Eleni Symillidi, Jing Wang, Josef Friedrich Santin and Vasiliki Georgiou Santin. The companies Andreas Demetriades & Co LLC and Delsk (Cyprus) Business Services Ltd are also accused as legal entities.
The indictment includes serious offences such as corruption, bribery, offering bribes and influence peddling, as well as conspiracy to defraud. The accused also face charges of tax offences involving VAT and money laundering.
The presumption of innocence applies to all the accused until their guilt is proven in court.
Source: CNA
