Cyprus Confidential is a journalism project investigating financial services in Cyprus and their role in allowing avoidance of international sanctions, and implementation of Russian state goals. It is conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Paper Trail Media and 69 media partners including Distributed Denial of Secrets and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and more than 270 journalists in 55 countries and territories. Other media partners included Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, the Belarusian Investigative Center, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, CBC,

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

, the Guardian, Le Monde, Politiken, Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism, Ukraine's Slidstvo and The Washington Post. The investigation suggests that "67 of the 105 Russian billionaires on the 2023 Forbes World’s Billionaires List used financial services firms on the island of Cyprus to hide their wealth and keep it out of reach from Western sanctions". The leaks include confidential information from financial services companies, mostly with connections to Cyprus, showing strong links with high-up figures in the Kremlin, some of whom have been sanctioned. The investigation reveals how Russian oligarchs transferred large amounts of assets to Cyprus after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union imposed

sanctions A sanction may be either a permission or a restriction, depending upon context, as the word is an auto-antonym. Examples of sanctions include: Government and law * Sanctions (law), penalties imposed by courts * Economic sanctions, typically a b ...

on more than 1,600 individuals and entities after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Investigation

Leak

The investigation is based on 3.6 million leaked files from the mid-1990s to April 2022, and include confidential background checks, organizational charts, financial statements, bank account applications and emails. The leaks come from six Cyprus-based

financial services Financial services are the Service (economics), economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, acco ...

providers and a Latvian firm that sells Cypriot

corporate registry This is a list of official business registers around the world. There are many types of official business registers, usually maintained for various purposes by a state authority, such as a government agency, or a court of law. In some cases, ...

documents: * ConnectedSky * Cypcodirect * DJC Accountants * i-Cyprus * Kallias & Associates * MeritKapital * MeritServus According to the ICIJ

The leaked records from Cypcodirect, ConnectedSky, i-Cyprus and Kallias & Associates were obtained by Paper Trail Media. Distributed Denial of Secrets obtained documents from Kallias & Associates, which were then shared with Paper Trail Media and ICIJ. DJC Accountants’ records were obtained by Distributed Denial of Secrets and shared by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.

Findings

The investigation found more than 650 companies and trusts registered in Cyprus and more than 100 in other secrecy jurisdictions that were owned or controlled by Russians who have been sanctioned since 2014. The companies and trusts used to hide properties and other investments from oversight and included mother companies of Russian holdings and subsidiaries of Russian conglomerates including Evraz, which supplies the train rails used to transport arms and ammunition to Russian troops in Ukraine. The investigation purports to show "how 67 of the 105 Russian billionaires on the 2023 Forbes World’s Billionaires List used financial services firms on the island of Cyprus to hide their wealth and keep it out of reach from Western sanctions". The leaks contain confidential information from financial services companies, mostly with connections to Cyprus, and show that country to have strong links with high-up figures in the Kremlin, some of whom have been sanctioned. The investigation reveals how Russian oligarchs transferred large amounts of assets to Cyprus after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The US, UK and EU imposed

on more than 1,600 individuals and entities after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The investigation found that Cyprus financial firms were working for more than 95 sanctioned individuals and 44 PEPs who were "linked to state-owned companies or organizations deemed to merit added scrutiny because of a heightened risk involving corruption or other illicit activity". The investigation revealed secret talks to help Syria evade oil-industry sanctions and that German journalist Hubert Seipel had received more than $700,000 from a shell company linked to Russian oligarch Alexei Mordashov as a "sponsorship" to write books about Vladimir Putin and the "political environment in the Russian Federation". The investigation also revealed how the spyware firm Intellexa exploited loopholes in Cyprus and that US surveillance giant Verint Systems's network of operations includes subsidiaries in India. The investigation implicated Bulgarian businessman Ognian Bozarov in the payment behind the 2008 bombing and

assassination of Ivo Pukanić The assassination of Ivo Pukanić happened on 23 October 2008 in Zagreb, Croatia, when a remote-detonation car bomb fitted on a motorcycle outside the ''Nacional'' newspaper's premises killed the owner of the newspaper, Ivo Pukanić, and Niko Fran ...

and another journalist at the Croatian magazine

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

, which Bozarov denied. It also revealed Sudanese businessman and alleged Hamas financier Abdelbasit Hamza's involvement with a Cyprus company that mines Egyptian gold.

Response

Government responses

Governments including Cyprus president Nikos Christodoulides and European lawmakers began responding to the investigation's findings in less than 24 hours. In November 2023, members of the European Parliament called for a crackdown on financial corruption and for member states that allow sanctions violations to be held accountable. Sophie in 't Veld the Parliament rapporteur for penalties for the violation of Union restrictive measures said that "When it’s about corruption and financial wrongdoings, the national authorities very often are the culprits. They’re complicit. The European Union is turning into a gangster’s paradise, because there is complete impunity." That month, Cyprus president Christodoulides promised to launch a probe and Cyprus Finance Minister Makis Keravnos said a criminal investigation had been initiated against firms including

PwC PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...

for Russian sanctions violations. In December 2023, the United States announced it was sending two dozen experts from the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to Cyprus to assist with 29 cases related to

money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...

and Russian sanctions violations.

Other

The

Greens–European Free Alliance The Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) is a political group of the European Parliament composed primarily of green and regionalist political parties. Formed following the 1999 European elections for the 5th European Parliament, th ...

called for EU countries to close loopholes in response to the investigation.

References

{{reflist Investigative journalism Financial scandals Offshore finance History of Cyprus 2020s in Cypriot politics Russian invasion of Ukraine Sanctions against Russia Reactions to the Russian invasion of Ukraine Sanctions and boycotts during the Russo-Ukrainian War News leaks Data journalism International Consortium of Investigative Journalists Money laundering Tax avoidance Whistleblowing 2023 in international relations 2023 scandals 2023 documents Distributed Denial of Secrets