The Court of Appeal has overturned the acquittal of all defendants in the high-profile case of granting Cypriot citizenship to Iranian investor Mehdi Ebrahimi Eshratabadi, who obtained a passport under the name Tony Newman. The court ordered a new trial in the full Criminal Court.
Previously, on November 4, 2022, the Larnaca Criminal Court acquitted all the defendants. However, two weeks later, on November 18, 2022, Senior Advocate of the Republic Ninos Kekkos filed an appeal on behalf of the Attorney General and the Court of Appeal eventually sided with the prosecution.
In its ruling on Thursday, the court harshly criticized the work of the trial court, saying:
«It is clear that the gaps, omissions, and errors in the evaluation of evidence are so serious that they prevent the Court of Appeal from independently considering the criminal responsibility of the accused.»
The case concerns the naturalization of Eshratabadi and involves two principals of the law firm Haris Kyriakides LLC — the late Haris Kyriakides and Michalis Kyriakides — and three other people involved in providing citizenship services, Victoria Dimitriadou, Eleni Kyrisavva, and Pauline Ioannou.
Three corporate entities are also named in the case: Newman Holdings Ltd, Scalens Trustees Ltd, and Scalens Ltd.
The Golden Passports program, which allowed foreign investors to obtain Cypriot citizenship in exchange for investments of €2 million or more, was shut down in 2020 after allegations of abuse and insufficient monitoring of applicants.
The case now returns to the Criminal Court and all defendants will stand trial again on charges related to their alleged involvement in the illegal citizenship scheme.
A Cypriot law firm and the «Russian trail»
Interestingly, the firm Haris Kyriakides LLC serves many wealthy Russians living in Cyprus. Among its clients are owners of IT companies with Russian roots. In particular, the firm works with Alexei Gubarev, owner of Palta and creator of the Techisland association.
Earlier in the article «Gubarev’s importation: Putin’s IT guys are taking over Cyprus» we have already written about the probably illegal acquisition of Cypriot citizenship by Gubarev’s father Alexander Gubarev. It is possible that, as in the case of Iranian citizen Mehdi Ebrahimi Eshratabati, the lawyers of Haris Kyriakides LLC may also have played a role in the issuance of a Cypriot passport to Gubarev Sr. bypassing the law.