NICOSIA, Cyprus: Cyprus top oversight body urged lawmakers on Thursday to rethink new legislation that empowers the government to grant citizenship to family members of wealthy investors under the countrys lucrative golden passport program.
The Cyprus Audit Office said handing passports to investors family members who havent contributed a single euro to the Mediterranean island nation’s economy shortchanges state coffers.
The office said thousands of wealthy family members have been granted citizenship since 2013, even though the law at the time didnt give the government the authority to do so. That legal amendment granting the government that authority was passed earlier this year.
The program has attracted many foreigner investors because a Cyprus passport automatically grants its holder citizenship access to the…
