Cyprus, According to a Report, Bent the State for a Russian Oligarch for Ten Years. The Authority Wants to Investigate Former President Anastasiadis on Suspicion of Corruption

On June 16, Cyprus's Independent Authority Against Corruption published the findings of a nearly 3,000-page report describing a decade of interventions by state institutions in favor of Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev. The authority named as potentially criminally liable former President Nikos Anastasiadis and others — 14 people and entities in total, including the oligarch himself. Anastasiadis denies all the allegations and calls them defamation. For a Slovak reader, this is an unusually open look at how, according to investigators, the protection of Russian money and oligarchs functioned inside the European Union. OCCRP ↗

"Mafia State": From Book to Investigation

It was all set in motion by the book Mafia State by journalist Makarios Drousiotis, once an adviser to Anastasiadis himself, published in August 2022. The Independent Authority Against Corruption (IAAC), established in July 2022, took up the case on its own initiative, and the main hearing phase got underway in early 2024. Politis ↗

The investigative committee, led by Australian lawyer Gabrielle McIntyre, questioned 150 people over 200 hearings and examined 793 pieces of evidence; the resulting report runs to almost three thousand pages. Cyprus Mail ↗

An important detail: the authority cannot prosecute anyone — it can only recommend charges and forward them to the state legal service. Both the attorney general and his deputy recused themselves from the case due to a conflict of interest. OCCRP ↗

The Divorce That Moved the State

Rybolovlev — the former "fertilizer king," owner of AS Monaco and holder of a Cypriot passport — is linked in the report primarily to his divorce. According to the findings, the state apparatus became involved in a property dispute with his former wife Elena: she was arrested in February 2014 on the basis of a complaint over jewelry (allegedly an unreturned diamond ring), with the case personally handled by the then deputy attorney general, Rikkos Erotokritou. Politis ↗

The judge who issued rulings in the dispute in Rybolovlev's favor later retired; his wife was hired, while the proceedings were still ongoing, by the law firm representing the oligarch. Politis ↗

Greece's Protothema describes this legislative change — which, according to the findings, parliament passed on a fast-tracked basis to suit the billionaire's legal needs — as "Rybolovlev's law." Against Rybolovlev himself, the authority recommends an investigation on suspicion of influence peddling. Protothema ↗

Golden Passports as a Second Front

Cyprus's "golden passports" form a separate chapter. According to the report, Anastasiadis, while still a member of parliament and head of the conservative DISY party, bypassed standard procedures and expedited the granting of citizenship to Russian oligarchs Alexander Abramov and Leonid Lebedev. The applications were filed by his own law firm, and in Abramov's case, Anastasiadis personally met with the then interior minister. Cyprus Mail ↗

The authority recommends investigating the firm and its partners for perjury and money laundering. OCCRP ↗

Cyprus's "citizenship by investment" scheme gave wealthy foreigners a European Union passport — and with it, the right to live and do business anywhere in the Union. Following a series of international exposés (the Cyprus Papers, later Cyprus Confidential), Nicosia scrapped the scheme in 2020 and stripped dozens of people of their passports. ICIJ ↗

Anastasiadis's Response

The former president categorically denies the allegations. In a statement, he said that Drousiotis's claims of enrichment and corruption had "collapsed as non-existent," and he himself called on the relevant authorities to thoroughly investigate the matter. Cyprus Mail ↗

As early as April 2024, he filed a lawsuit against Drousiotis seeking more than two million euros and a ban on his books. He has called a press conference for June 23 to respond to the authority's findings. Cyprus Mail ↗

It should be stressed that the report is neither a verdict nor an indictment — it is a recommendation for further investigation. Until then, the presumption of innocence applies to everyone named.

What hotinfo Is Watching

• June 23 — Anastasiadis's press conference, his first comprehensive response to the report.
• Whether and how the state legal service takes up the recommendations; following the recusal of the prosecutors, there is talk of a special prosecutor.
• Expansion of the case: on June 18, the tax commission unusually also joined the investigation. Cyprus Mail ↗
• The European dimension — whether the wrongly granted "golden passports" become a topic in Brussels again.