The Malaysian fraudster Jho Low still has a Cyprus passport. How he got it and why he still has it is a crazy story of corruption and malfeasance.
Somehow Jho Low still has a valid Cyprus passport.
That's one of the reveals in a new investigative series by journalist Makarios Drousiotis, who is rolling out a fiery multi-part expose that shows rampant corruption involving politicians, service providers, land developers, and criminals, with ex-President Nicos Anastasiades directly implicated.
Drousiotis' latest report hit earlier this month (it's in Greek)
Jho had multiple passports, including one from St. Kitts and Nevis in addition to Malaysia, but only Cyprus has allowed him to keep it despite the overwhelming global evidence of his critical and central role as the perpetrator of the 1MDB fraud.
Cypriot journalists first exposed the details of how Jho managed to get a Cypriot passport in 2015. In an attempt to reduce the scandal, the Council of Ministers approved a proposal to strip Jho of his citizenship. But, as revealed by Drousiotis, President Anastasiades managed to scupper those efforts with procedural delays and changes to legislation introducing a new procedure for citizenship revocation.
So instead, Jho's case was referred to a newly established Independent Deprivation Review Committee. His appeal was accepted by the Independent Nationality Deprivation Review Board in March 2022.
This, to me, shows how far Cyprus will go to preserve a lucrative stream of money, even if it means providing safe harbor and travel documents to international criminals.
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