Cyprus Crackdown After Oligarch Revelations

Cyprus has vowed to tighten controls on its financial sector as an investigation published by the Guardian and its reporting partners reveals oligarchs transferred hundreds of millions in assets while sanctions loomed after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

- Simon Goodley , Helena Smith  , Juliette Garside

The role of the blue-chip accountants PwC Cyprus and other advisers in managing transactions as Vladimir Putin’s forces launched their assault has emerged from Cyprus Confidential, a cache of 3.6m files leaked by an anonymous source to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and Germany’s Paper Trail Media, which shared access with the Guardian and other reporting partners.

The largest ever financial data leak from Cyprus also sheds light on how opaque offshore structures managed by accountants and corporate service providers in the EU member state may have enabled undisclosed payments to an influential western journalist, and potential breaches of rules around football club financing.

The Cypriot government has responded by promising a “zero-tolerance approach” to sanctions violations as it battles to safeguard its status as a financial centre.

In response to detailed questions from the consortium, a spokesperson said Cyprus was receiving technical support from the British government to create a sanctions implementation unit next year, with plans to be submitted this month alongside a report on how its authorities investigate and prosecute financial crime. It has also joined an EU cross-border project on making sanctions effective.

The exact rules around timing and enforcement of the sanctions against Putin and the officials, politicians and business leaders close to his regime is now under scrutiny, both within Cyprus and around Europe.