66 Indians, including Gautam Adani’s brother Vinod Adani, have the Golden Passport of Cyprus. Cyprus is considered a haven for big capital embezzlers. To get the Golden Passport one has to invest a huge amount there.
गौतम अडानी के भाई विनोद अडानी समेत 66 भारतीयों के पास है साइप्रस का गोल्डन पासपोर्ट
Vinod Adani, elder brother of Adani Group owner industrialist Gautam Adani, is among the 66 Indians who hold the Cyprus Golden Passport. To get this passport, you should have 2 million euros i.e. about Rs 18 crore which you invest in Cyprus, after which you will get citizenship there.
The English newspaper The Indian Express on Wednesday published the names of 66 people who have obtained the Golden Passport of Cyprus. The most important name among these is that of Vinod Adani, brother of Gautam Adani. Vinod Adani’s name also appeared in Panama Papers and Pandora Papers. The Indian Express has said in its report that Cyprus is a favorite destination for floating offshore companies and wealthy Indians. Apart from living a luxurious life, it is also considered a safe place in the country to escape from the charges of illegally acquired wealth and money laundering.
The Cyprus Golden Passport was introduced in 2007. It was also called the Cyprus Investment Programme. It was said that under this scheme, economically strong individuals acquired citizenship and invested in the country. A 2022 audit by the Cyprus government revealed that a total of 7,327 individuals were approved for Cyprus passports under the scheme, of which 3,517 were “investors” and the rest were members of their families, the Indian Express reported.
Later, many changes were made in this scheme and finally this scheme was abolished in 2020 as there were allegations that people with criminal charges, dubious character and politically connected people were taking maximum advantage of this scheme.
OCCPR (Organized Crime And Corruption Reporting Project) was also involved in the investigation conducted by Indian Express and other journalistic organizations. It has analyzed data of thousands of prominent individuals who have obtained ‘Golden Passport’. These show that after 2020, passport cancellation was recommended in 83 cases. The data shows that between 2014 and 2020, 66 Indians managed to obtain Cyprus passports. This entire process took an average of three months to one year.
Among the early applicants for Cypriot citizenship was Gautam Adani’s elder brother Vinod Shantilal Adani, whose offshore holdings are detailed in the January 2023 Hindenburg report. Vinod Adani (reported as one of the richest NRIs) has lived in Dubai since the early 1990s but holds a Cyprus passport. OCCRP data shows him as an ‘investor’, and revealed that he had applied for the ‘Golden Passport’ scheme on August 3, 2016. Within three months, he was granted Cypriot citizenship on 25 November 2016.
Vinod Adani’s name had earlier also surfaced in the Indian Express-ICIJ offshore investigation. Earlier, Vinod Adani’s name has also appeared in the Panama Papers of 2016 for setting up a company named GA International Inc. in Bahamas. Vinod Adani’s name appeared in the Pandora Papers of 2021 for the inclusion of British Virgin Islands company Hibiscus RE Holdings Limited.
Apart from Vinod Adani, prominent Indians who have Cypriot citizenship include prominent Indian industrialist Pankaj Oswal and his wife Radhika Oswal. He is the founder of Burrup Holdings Limited. The Oswal family recently came into limelight for purchasing one of the most expensive houses in the world for $200 million in Switzerland. Investigation has revealed that Pankaj Oswal closed down Cyprol Limited after acquiring his Cyprus citizenship.
The investigation revealed that in October 2020, the Cyprus government decided to phase out the ‘Golden Passport’ scheme, citing shortcomings and provisions of the scheme. In response to questions sent by OCCRP and other media to Cyprus Confidential Investigation, the Ministry of Home Affairs of Cyprus clarified that they have decided to revoke the citizenship of 233 individuals and among them 68 individuals are investors and 165 are their family members. .
Among those whose passports were decided to be cancelled, only one is an Indian. His name is Anubhav Aggarwal. He got the ‘Golden Passport’ on November 2, 2016, within just four months of applying. Anubhav Aggarwal’s name had cropped up in the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) scam and he had not disclosed his links with dubious companies in his application for citizenship, an investigation has said. Anubhav Aggarwal is accused of defrauding investors of more than Rs 3,600 crore in the NSEL scam. He was arrested in Abu Dhabi in August 2020 and his properties were seized by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in June 2020.
Apart from Anubhav Agarwal, many important Indians are also in the list of Golden Passport recipients.
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