The Cyprus Papers Undercover | Al Jazeera Investigations

[Applause] [Music] al jazeera's investigative unit goes undercover in cyprus we reveal how the specter of corruption hangs over the island's passport by investment scheme no possible the more cases invest you are in more favorable terms you can skip them with the list as we say and we show how a convicted criminal might obtain a european passport for the right price let's get over there our investigation leads to one of the highest officers of state the president of the parliament do you see that to anybody i have to protect my name we show how a criminal with a golden passport could change his identity to evade justice was it congested i've done this before of course foreigners who invest two and a half million dollars often in luxury homes can obtain a cypriot passport under the cypress investment program the holder of a cypress passport has the right to live and work across the european union there is an island in the mediterranean where prosperity is a way of life cyprus welcomes the world al jazeera's investigative unit obtained a leak naming two and a half thousand people who'd purchased a cypriot passport we called it the cyprus papers the cyprus papers make global headlines has frequently raised its concerns about investigation schemes al jazeera's investigation revealed that many new citizens should not have received passports some of those obtained cypriot passports are criminals they are linked to crime wanted suspected convicted cyprus's minister of interior dismissed al jazeera's evidence allah the revelations spot anger in the european union the european commission should put cyprus before the european court of justice the european justice commissioner says he'll consider legal action to stop cyprus from selling citizenship we are analyzing if it's needed to introduce an infringement proceeding or to come with a legislative problem is the cypriot government says it always acts in good faith and that its titan rules on who can obtain citizenship in future hola taipona foreign the minister claims cyprus never knowingly allowed convicted criminals to obtain european passports now al jazeera's investigative unit brings further revelations that go to the heart of the cypriot state [Music] we begin in london undercover reporters persuade a former british policeman turned fixer that their rich client needs one of cyprus's golden passports the investigative unit creates a nameless fictional applicant who we'll call mr x they told the former policeman that the applicant was chinese very rich that he'd fled from china with his illegally obtained wealth and that he'd received a seven-year prison sentence in absentia for bribery and money laundering the investigation moves to cyprus the first stage for a criminal to receive a european passport is a meeting with the right property agents the former policeman now an enabler arranges for our undercover reporters to meet his contacts denise k and her husband own the sold on cyprus estate agency you should buy or sell through sold on cyprus because we can't our undercover reporters are advised to move to a more private location we'll have a chat when we go to your school denise and husband tony k help those who invest in their property to get cypriot passports we live here we love the island and we want people to be happy our undercover reporter billy says he represents our made-up applicant mr x [Music] my favorite dream he's been kind successful people he got some issues in china we named our second undercover reporter angie she's acting as billy's assistant the chinese government charged him for bribery and uh corruption he was very well collected and he got the information got tipped off before the police took the action so he sold out the business and assets in china and moved the money through macau casino he now has hong kong idea called the citizenship the chinese government sentenced him for seven years for for those if he returns there if he returns there then he will be sentenced for seven years he will be in zenith jail because the sentence was made at his absence according to the rules of the cyprus investment program a successful applicant needs a police certificate confirming a clean criminal record the person who we are helping now for the cyprus immigration has been leaving hong kong for about two years right i think two years two years yeah less than two years police report from hong kong will show the warrant for the seven years will it show that hospital yeah because now the hong kong police are not independent as before the chinese government have a huge influence here so i'm sure they got the loyalties or got some notification from the chinese side he can fly out of hong kong come to cyprus freely yeah you know visa the cyprus investment program or golden passport scheme has brought over 8 billion dollars to the cypriot economy since 2013. most of that has gone into real estate the k's connect the island's property business with its golden passport program the cyprus program came along then it just exploded it's about getting sound investments and producing the passport and getting it done quickly and efficiently they're part of a specialized team of enablers you'll meet the team the lawyers the accountants the the ministers if you send clients over billy they arrive we chaperone them we look after them they're treated very very well when they leave here they'll be in love with cyprus and we will achieve whatever they need to achieve tell me how many cases you have done hundreds we have 100 success rate um 100 100 100 because of the point he shares a name that will crop up throughout our investigation and the most important person is chris yeah he's a member of parliament he's actually very very very good man to know when it comes to doing what we're doing right now christakis giovanni has been a member of the cypriot house of representatives for nine years he also runs giovanni group one of the largest property developers in the country an event of significant consequence began with a vision to create a reputable trustworthy organization he unlocks the key chris's background um he has a big development company um he was from very humble background but he's been very politically motivated for many years very highly respected man very very highly respected in cyprus everybody will know him and respect him he knows everyone on the board which is the people that we need the board of the cypress investment program includes representatives from the interior and finance ministries and the government investment authority there are some clients that we've helped we've assisted to get passports and some were problematical but we managed through chris's connectivity to break all the rules and in an unprecedented way we got the past full issue done very very quickly for this client a dream becomes a reality after years of diligence he's an excellent man he's a solution finder there is a solution always obviously the country doesn't want to have terrorists they don't want to have bad people so the diligence is more about keeping these people out of the passport scheme but if you've got people credible people with legitimate reasons for these problems to occur then we explain it to the very highest people and say this is the position what can we do a lot of people want to get an audience with him and not so many get that audience thought so tony and denise kay arranged for our undercover reporters to see the giovanni group's newest investment opportunity welcome to our world of luxury set in one of cypress's most sought after areas sun city is a landmark on its own okay [Applause] this is actually seafront coastline project each vlog has its own swimming pool so this is the private pool yes two of them this was sold for 3.8 million by the royal family of from united theodorus [ __ ] zacharias is a property advisor for the giovanni group he bought this one and he for his mother so he can't get the passport and now his brother because his mark is buying another apartment so another application of passport will come through that sun city is a first of a kind five-star resort hotel combined with residences the path is being laid for mr x a convicted money launderer to invest in cyprus and obtain a passport he can buy in different ways he can open their limited company he can have nominee directors so that his name's never shown that he can have a company with money in and you know have people in front of that there's all different aspects of investing in cyprus that will be attractive to this kind of gentleman where there are problems it costs more money to achieve these things so what we will do is find out who has to be spoken to who has to be paid what investments need to be made [Music] if there is a headache we find out with yes we find if there's a solution we then come to you and say this is the solution is this acceptable if it's acceptable then we proceed he's absolutely the right person for what we're talking about this is where it all begins a world of luxury and comfort what i'll do is um during the course of your few days here i'll introduce you to a lawyer and the lawyer will give you the breakdown of everything every document which includes police record now if the police record comes back and it's not good that's a problem but you've explained to me the problem and there will be a solution to this perfect and uh really nice to meet you the next step is for our undercover reporters to meet with a lawyer the investor has some situation in china two years ago he was involved in some business activities which broke the is a registered service provider for the cyprus investment program the chinese government sentenced the investor into seven years on charge of robbery of florida to face this issue in cyprus obviously the past tremendous production would be an issue both in relation to funds and possible problems however we need to find ways to overcome this problem now i cannot say guarantees but when i get everything i will say people have cases you cannot make black to white for the other way around but you can offer solutions if there are and most of the time there are solutions the vast majority of times there are solutions i think i have never met them our undercover reporters are again told that one man holds the key should problems arise if this type of journalist has a solution then he has a solution of power is an mp i have seen him perform next week in the next two in every ministry there are civil servants working there those people do not change when a government changes and there is a headache of the least the general director a general manager of the millions above him is the politically appointed business who can change at any time so the general manager of the ministry here is a very close the ministry of interior approves golden passports the general manager at the time was kipros capriano the minister was constantinos petridis kipriyanu was the civil servant who administered the programme [Music] [Music] yes i have seen him two benefits not illegal but under others not illegal we have a good team i had a very serious issue recently with a plastic obligation and the minister is also a friend and he was a foreign he's describing corruption that's exactly what he's describing it's supposed to be a process with a number of barriers that you have to pass through and every single one of those is to prevent any kind of crook from obtaining an eu passport and instead it's just stitched up behind the scenes i mean that line you know when you know the angels you don't need to know god i mean where do you start the giovanni group has a specific investment in mind for mr x billy and angie are taken to the proposed site of a second sun city development i'm going to show you a question antonis antonio runs the giovanni group [Applause] if you find any investor contribute about 20 million euros we can make the substitute for 70 million 20 million euro 20 million euro the rest we can take from the sale of their parents antonio is seeking an investment much more than the two and a half million dollars necessary for a cypriot passport and this is a good opportunity if you have any rich people who want to have a five-star hotel ride on the beach this is number one and i already signed up with mariot they want to run it as mario the resort they're very keen mario they love the idea it's gonna be the first mario [Music] the real reason is we're gonna turn this into a private beat and i will show you here oh the water is crystal clear everything fantastic it's really something amazing with 20 million euro we acquire the land yeah and we start and our job will be what would be the two shares percentage look uh we have to discuss this yeah can be there us 25 and 75 the investor or 50 50 will discuss but it's a great opportunity resort hotel with seven restaurants an amazing spine site exactly like sunset we will name it the mariota resort [Music] back at the office lawyer andreas pettages explains the importance of presenting mr x's case favorably but convincing department government to pay the picture and send it to the bank a convincing know your client or kyc document is essential in order for mr x to bring his funds to cyprus for me that's the most important thing to pay the correct picture if you go to the bank and say i have a plan that has been convicted say no if you think through the bank a client that has been convicted but you show them that the money that we come from cyprus will come from different sources that have nothing to do with the client that have nothing to do with his finances that it is independent from what he's doing here are the documents before we get and you take them a full file it's okay we cannot reject yes he has a conviction that we cannot reject what you have said is sufficient for me to start working it's sufficient for me to stop finding a solution [Music] one option is to use a shell or front company that's untainted by the applicant's criminal conviction who wanted to make an investment from a company that has been completed on private and the funds were coming from the same company i said to him i cannot do it would convicted in relation to criminal offense he could make the investor in cycle because the origin of the money was clear so maybe if one company was involved we can maybe get science from a different yes because not all companies are criminals we have to review everything though in order to offer a solution obviously this is not an easy case if we are to have a client who has money and criminal conviction no it cannot pass if we have a client who has a criminal conviction but that female conviction is not linked to the money this is this is this is wrong these are international regulations another way is for a family member to be seen to make the necessary investment [Music] investment that could but his wife could i haven't created who wanted to make an investment but he couldn't his son could you cannot make problems disappear you can solve them if there is a solution here you have a risk of a trojan horse if you're a criminal you can hide in the pool of dependents and relatives this is something we've been warning against for some times not only should the checks and controls be stricter on the main applicant but the same level of checks needs to be made on the dependents and what is the most difficult case you you have dealt with kid can you help by taking my character i will prepare the finals i will collect the documents within 15 days [Music] petages then describes how a successful applicant can ensure his wealth is never traced to his criminal past you ask a guy change the name of the new passport yes we can change your name that's for sure yes just a little bit because we can change it a lot of people not little i have a client that [Music] his name now is the name half hour half of the united states has but if you check his original name he cannot not even travel with that name so we made an affidavit in cyprus changed his name and his passport he's traveling [Laughter] there is a gap in the cyprus system and you can change the name without any questions how do we do this she signs one document and nobody can find out you can do this document for us within pipelines it means people can disappear which is crazy if you change your name and change your nationality you're you're a new person you know how many joes and sums clients say hello do you think that tony recommended me this allows people to just sidestep all the restrictions that the international community puts in place to try and and prevent criminals from evading responsibility for their crimes it is it's extraordinary a meeting with a politician christakis giovanni is the next stage in the plan laid out by tony kaye is someone i've known for many years now he's very expensive very helpful the main guest had not yet arrived i want you to see that he's very close-friendly we work very well together christopher hi chris nice to meet you very nice to meet you hello giovanni works with many foreign investors partners they've that are chinese to us so yes it's a simple process really i am we can speak here because there's nobody here um i've explained to stephanie i'm sure about the position he understands however this is going to be a headache how do we resolve this headache i think status will tell me what we have to do what the problem is we shall do the best and i believe we have the experience to help the people to take a passport and why not this is a very good place giovanni's right-hand man antonis antonio joins the table you also use whatsapp like hong kong of course okay i will send you hey antonio is here to advise on the next moves the first thing will be always to study the file yeah to give you our feedback so we study the profile of the investor he reiterates what the lawyer said produce a persuasive know your client document to satisfy the banks number one part is how we complete a good kyc for the money to arrive in cyprus put the file together and through the banks we can accommodate the money here inside let's say that the money can arrive in cyprus for the investment part then we have to study the profile of the buyer and we will advise you what ways are you know possible to submit the application the gentleman he's speaking about he's worried for being scrutinized under that name [Music] uh the main concern is whether information on the applicant's crimes could be discovered is these clients listed in criminal lists are they in any way have very negative publicity online however when he left china they in his absence go to this yeah the good things are the money can be transferred easily and this is excellent k reassures our reporters there will be a solution for the right price where there are hurdles and headaches then we'll explain those to you and you can find out how we can solve and frankly what it would cost to solve obviously being an expensive scenario to get over these bigger hurdles at the giovanni group office our undercover reporters are briefed on the lucrative investment opportunities we call this the golden triangle of cyprus here you have another six five star hotels being built okay you have sun city 100 million euro you need a residency and access into the eu okay the european union this is mostly what you will want because it gives you direct classes it's a smart investment after viewing more giovanni group properties our undercover reporters went with guide [ __ ] zacharias to a lunch with kaye and the lawyer pitajis i had a guy who was in custody for two years he was in prison for two years corruption yes you cannot bypass the system [Music] even if the applicant's criminal record is revealed in financial databases it's not a deal breaker so let's say that he logs into the web and this is his name that is not the reason i need and say oh i cannot do that those databases are not databases that instruct professionals banks and governments around the world to not do business with these guys what is called those websites screening that's why we always suggest someone like address or any unlike address will assist because from their legal background their experience their status they can assist our property advisor [ __ ] zacharias says that in the passport business it's who you know that matters also from our side because our ceo is a member of the parliament he knows he's not going to do something illegal but it's much easier if he just holds the law the head of that family hello my name is mr chris i remember oh hello yes i have this application what's going on it's on the pile okay take it from the end of the pilot put it on the top okay thank you very much easiest way we are told there is a two-track application system the official route and another where more money is required nobody will say no but a differential and preferential treatment is given to people that the society and the government feels that they are not buying the passport they are injustice they came because they like cycles so treat them differently treat them better those over the mean or over the limit are treated differently nobody will admit that you cannot see this in any book or any regulation but if i go and say listen i have a guy that i want his passport earlier but he has made the 5 million viewer investors 10 million new investments let's see okay so seven or six they will say okay guys this is not something written officially but we know by their reaction my humble opinion is this guy's interest and you have the issues that we have discussed already he should commit to higher investment if there are issues and we want a passport to be fast for higher how high the higher the better all the ministers all the businessmen they like to have one holiday place here near the beach i see we have many opportunities here we have many opportunities where somebody can make very quick money antonio tells us more about the two-track application system the more you invest you are in more favorable turn than you can skip them with the list as we say if i have this particular investor to participate in your marriage program do you think this would also be another advantage for the passport yes because our investors in the sunset we gave them passport very quickly the church here we have chinese best because they invested about about 18 million applicants of the cyprus investment program are required to donate to specific organizations antonio explains how cash payments might also have to be made by an applicant who like mr x has a criminal bit record yeah complicated if there is any extra cost please let us know we cannot tell these unless we see the files if we tell you for example we need to pay 50 000 donations to somewhere so they can support you normally we can put them in the contract and take this money from the country and give to these people we can take them in cash whatever the amount depends on the difficulties presented in the applicant's file i cannot tell you we have to pay 50 or 100 or 200 000 to get this done unless we see the file because if the file is good then we don't need to do anything more if there are issues then we start to address the issues one by one ok there is always a way explains that a major investment will bring with it many more opportunities for passports say that your client wishes to build a five-star hotel for examplexian city and the investment is 100 million euros 200 million yeah you can make the investment get the passport and sell sizes of the investment for further patterns you can make the investment and then divide into 25 hospital clients if he has more clients it appears that mr x can even set up his own passport selling business we have made similar structures in the past both for giovanni for other clients we made a joint venture fighter built villas or apartments or a hotel yeah and they were selling either properties or slices of the investment of the company two other people petages reminds us that the main obstacle for mr x is the banks finding out about his criminal past no promises one way of resolving it might be to have his wife make the investment if we can satisfy that so if the person bringing the money is a company that doesn't have to do with a client nobody will find out nobody will care the european commission the ecb and the imf have been praising cyprus for its progress independent in-depth reviews and audits have dismissed money laundering allegations as unsubstantiated when we substitute to find the passport application we will file done that his wife made as the primary investor to make sure the investor so their name will appear in the banks because the banks spontaneous much more the applications on the government once the applicant gets past the banks government checks are a formality and when it comes to government you have precise assistance when they check they will check the husband as well and christians will push sort of maybe overlook the hospital because he's not the primary investor billy learns that kustakis giovanni's political influence reaches the highest levels of the state it's between the house the second command was an employee of georgia [Music] what was your values he was on his payroll he was a member of his board and an employee for several years before he became as soon as he became a speaker of the house he dropped his work speaking but until the day he became a speaker was he was unemployed this is confidential of course don't ask him but i know because i was presented to one in the past and i knew that he was in the board as a paid member of the board the next step is to meet the speaker of the house of representatives also known as the president of the cypriot parliament our undercover reporters are invited to meet him at lunch in christakis giovanni's house [Music] you have still challenged here the estate agent tony k was invited antonis antonio is also there in china parliament for 28 years wow so now i'm the president of the parliament i'm the president demetrius solaris holds the second highest office of state in cyprus billy tells him about the applicant two years ago so he was involved in options he was really well collected in china so he got the tip by the government proceed and he has a case in europe for example as he considers the options the president of the cypriot parliament offers other solutions if there is a problem and maybe we'll convert to another european country with the credits i have with president because she doesn't care i know and he doesn't change his into a private room before they arrest him he needs to sell his assets business and transfer the money out from china to my account at his absence he was convinced he was convenience for bribery and um [Music] that's the thing also he has been worried in hong kong but is it good to meet him in some other country he has sent his kids and their wife to you to uk but to meet this person because chinese china china if you go and meet him there then and if he's under surveillance maybe they consider it safer to meet mr x in cyprus karen cyprus we host him here for two days i'll be innovating with him to give any support i can in the meantime we're going to check the information somebody should bring and then we'll make a new plan how to do it if there is a problem we are not going to stop we are not going to happen and we will have the solution i will speak with keepers officially ok let's see where we stand [Music] kipros refers to kipros kipriyanu the director general or permanent secretary at the interior ministry i will call the minister who come in my office the permanent secretary of the minister okay come in my office and i tell you what you think about if they tell me to make a research i will tell them yes but without the name [Music] you don't you don't know the name you only know the information the background also they may say okay forget okay what about his wife if he's okay the wife who with the wife and then he can bring him in as a husband celeries wants billy to give a message to our fictitious criminal applicant you can tell him that he will have without mentioning my name or anybody else full support of cyprus at any level political economy social everything okay cheers even sees an opportunity to sell more passports to billy's wealthy clients so in the meantime if you have any other prospects people interested for the passport let's meet them there are a lot they may want the european passport so you bring the insights and this is going to do a very good business for you okay okay all they know about our nameless chinese applicant is that he's very wealthy has a criminal record and a seven year jail sentence for bribery and money laundering [Music] earlier giovanni had shared concerns with the lawyer patanjis his title he called him between us he said andreas inside in order to see a member of the parliament let the president speak here a member of the parliament you have to go through a lot of checks and we don't even know about who we're talking i want to know who these people are you have a business card no i don't [Music] a recommendation from the former london policeman turned enabler was enough i told them what their trust coming then i think the studies take i am taking the risk see these people i am taking the reason i vote for them what happens if tomorrow morning we wake up and we see a headline in bbc or the guardian or any other newspaper about the meeting and how easy it is to see the remember the speaker of the party present yeah and we we definitely have your support for this definitely yes i promise you yeah and um you have a greater confidence that you can support the house to get this kids down i cannot say when i say 1999 the final step in obtaining a passport is for our convicted money launderer to bring his funds to cyprus as quickly as possible let's do a transaction now immediately and tell him to concede if we find the application on monday in a week he will get scared herman residency we finish the day yeah to anybody because you have to protect my name is me after our reporters left cyprus the government announced that 26 golden passports should not have been issued and would be revoked a report by the reuters news agency had highlighted abuses of the scheme [Music] in a text message billy voiced concerns petages reassured him that nothing had changed the announcement was simply to quell media criticism andreas protages said he understood from the outset that what was proposed involved money laundering and criminal activities and that everything he did thereafter amounted to fishing for more details he also indicated that a few days after our journalists had left cyprus without providing him a copy of mr x's passport he made a report to cyprus's anti-money laundering unit [Music] tony and denise k of sold on cyprus said that they had also been suspicious of billy and angie and had always made it clear that cypriot law would have to be obeyed in relation to any money that was transferred or to a passport application [Music] christakis giovanni antonis antonio and theodorus [ __ ] zacharias of giovanni group told us that they had shared their suspicions regarding mr x with a lawyer andreas pettages they relied on the fact that he had reported our approach to the anti-money laundering unit after our journalists had left the island they said that they had always made it clear that they would have to be satisfied as to the legitimacy of the investor and his sources of fund before any application could be processed they added that references to cash donations were actually two mandatory payments required under the cyprus investment program they said their ongoing dealings with our undercover journalists were intended to gather information to support a report to the authorities without tipping them off kipros kipriyanu told us that he knew nothing at all about the case a week after the release of the cyprus papers kipriyanu left the interior ministry and became permanent secretary at the ministry of education culture and sport demetrius solaris said he had provided no services to mr x and again relied upon the anti-money laundering report subsequently made by petages there is no suggestion that marriott hotels had any knowledge of matters revealed by our [Music] [Applause] investigation

Channel: Al Jazeera English

Views: 908,421

Keywords: billionaire, china, citizenship by investment, citizenship rights, corruption, cyprus, cyprus papers, eps, european union, europol, exclusive, financial crime, golden passport, interpol, investigation, journalism p, mediterranean, money laundering, al jazeera, cyprus passport, cyprus investment citizenship, The Cyprus papers undercover | Al Jazeera Investigations, al jazeera english, aljazeera english, saudi arabia, cyprus papers συλλουρησ, cyprus papers greek, cyprus papers aljazeera

Id: Oj18cya_gvw

Length: 57min 9sec (3429 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 12 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Ozyzen]

I have to admit that I didn't expect this level of corruption. And if the government doesn't take action against the people exposed in this video it would mean that there are a lot more people from the government involved.

[u/Hawke45]

This corruption is like what you see in Hollywood movies. I cannot believe it.

Makes me sick to see such corruption in my own country. Makes me think how much deeper does it go, and where our hard earn taxes go to. fuck me

[u/Due-Blueberry8727]

I thought our side was better in corruption, damn brother you good!

[u/watercementratio]

Anyone think investigations are likely to reveal far more implicated people in powerful positions like in the Petrobras scandal or will they just sweep these guys under the rug and move on?

[u/hekate9]

I feel disgusted and enraged after seeing this video.

What makes it worse is that I expected nothing to be done by our politicians/police etc, maybe a slap on the wrist and that's it.

[u/fwzy_34]

Is this real life? Nottheonion φάση!

Να γίνει πλήρης και εξονυχιστική διερεύνηση για εντοπισμό αυτών που έκαναν την διαρροή προς το φιλοτουρκικό δίκτυο Al #Jazeera στην προσπάθειά τους να πλήξουν το κύρος της Κυπριακής Δημοκρατίας και να την υπονομεύσουν.

Edek

https://t.co/Pnfjl9ot97