February 2 2016
Cyprus’ failure to go after Russian mafia money in its banks indicates it’s paying no more than “lip service” to international money laundering laws, a Dutch MP has said.
Pieter Omtzigt, from the christian-democrat CDA party, put forward the criticism in a letter, on Saturday (30 January), to a financial crimes unit in The Council of Europe in Strasbourg.
“Recent developments in Cyprus in relation to the Magnitsky case have shown the failure of Cyprus to apply money laundering legislation in practice,” he said. The syndicate of Russian officials and hard criminals, the Klyuev Group, responsible for the fraud laundered millions via Cypriot banks. They also visited Cyprus several times, making the EU state “a central base for it in Europe,” Omtzigt noted.
Cypriot authorities say the case is still open.
But four years after Magnitsky’s former employer, Bill Browder, gave Cyprus black-and-white evidence of the financial transactions, it hasn’t recovered a cent or prosecuted anyone.