Two stripped of Cyprus passports
The cabinet has rescinded the Cypriot passports of two Chinese nationals after their conviction in Singapore in a major money laundering case, media reported on Monday.
Daily Politis said the cabinet has stripped the two men of their Cypriot nationality after they were convicted and sentenced by a Singapore court.
They were named as Su Haijin and Wang Dehai, who originally hail from China’s Fujian province.
They had both acquired Cypriot passports under the now-defunct citizenship-by-investment scheme, colloquially known as the ‘golden passports’.
In late 2020, the government here terminated the citizenship programme, on the back of a damning expose aired by news network Al Jazeera.
In August 2023, police in Singapore conducted an operation against money laundering. Some sources describe it as the largest money laundering case in Singapore, and among the biggest in the world, involving assets worth 3 billion Singapore dollars (€2 billion).
Ten individuals were arrested and charged with money-laundering related crimes, all of whom were Chinese nationals from Fujian who were also holders of various non-Chinese passports.
The case has been linked to unlicensed money lending in China, scams, and remote online gambling operations in the Philippines, which also saw a mayor in the Philippines being temporarily stripped of authority.
Singapore authorities were first alerted to the scheme as early as 2021.
Su Haijin was convicted and sentenced to 14 months’ imprisonment for one count of resistance to lawful apprehension and two counts of money laundering. Sentencing involved about 95 per cent forfeiture of his assets, amounting to more than €110 million.
Wang Dehai was convicted and sentenced to 16 months’ jail for one count of money laundering. His sentencing involved about 90 per cent forfeiture of his assets, amounting to about €33 million.
To date, said Politis, the government has revoked the Cypriot passports of 306 individuals. These concerned 88 foreign investors, plus 218 members of their families.
Meanwhile the newspaper also gave an update on Malaysian-born Jho Low, an internationally wanted fugitive.
Low was stripped of his Cypriot citizenship in June 2024; he had been granted citizenship back in 2015.
He is accused of looting billions from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund.
Although under investigation at the time, he was not officially a wanted man until October 2016 when Interpol issued a red notice on him. After the Malaysian elections in 2018, the new government there reopened an investigation and issued arrest warrants against him.
Despite being flagged as high-risk, local mediators filed an application on his behalf. Low purchased a seaside mansion in Ayia Napa for €5m and got citizenship.
According to Politis, citing reports in foreign media, Low is rumoured to currently live in Shanghai under an assumed Greek name and with a fake Australian passport.
He is said to be going by the name of Constantinos Achilles Veis.