The long-running criminal case linked to Cyprus' former citizenship-by-investment programme is set to move into the hearing stage later this month, more than two years after proceedings were initiated.
The hearing before the Nicosia Criminal Court is scheduled to begin on 19 October and involves former Transport Minister Marios Demetriades, seven other individuals and two companies.
The defendants are Andreas Demetriades, Dimitris Demetriades, George Demetriades, Eleni Symillides, Jing Wang, Josef Friedrich Santin, Vasiliki Georgiou-Santin, and the companies Andreas Demetriades & Co LLC and Delsk (Cyprus) Business Services Ltd.
During Friday's court session, issues raised by defence lawyers regarding additional charges recently added to the indictment were clarified, paving the way for the trial to begin.
The case was filed in August 2024, while the defendants were committed for direct trial before the Criminal Court in January 2025.
The most recent amendment to the indictment introduced 24 new charges against four of the defendants: Andreas Demetriades, Dimitris Demetriades, George Demetriades and Eleni Symillides.
The final three of those additional charges, which were the focus of Friday's proceedings, concern financial transactions involving three investors and alleged obligations relating to the prevention of money laundering.
The addition of the new charges resulted in the postponement of the originally scheduled start of the trial to allow the defence to receive further details.
Defence lawyer Elias Stefanou told the court he was satisfied with the explanations provided by the prosecution. He nevertheless indicated that if more general references concerning the description of alleged offences were relied upon during the proceedings, he intended to raise issues relating to the right to a fair trial.
Prosecutor Charis Karaolidou said the case could now proceed, noting that the defence had received the details it requested.
The case concerns alleged offences linked to the citizenship-by-investment programme and involves a total of 10 defendants, comprising eight individuals and two corporate entities.
The charges include, among others, offences relating to influence peddling, bribery, corruption, conspiracy to defraud, VAT-related offences and money laundering.
