The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) has handed down a landmark ruling to end the selling of “golden passports”, the practice of member states such as Malta and Cyprus that have turned European citizenship into a commercial transaction.
Cyprus slips 12 places in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index by RSF. Cyprus now ranks 77th among 180 countries. Legislative attempts by the government that would undermine press freedom are causing concern. Turkey’s increasing pressure on the media and growing concentration in the hands of businessmen undermine press freedom in the north.
Journalists and experts have sounded the alarm over draft legislation in Cyprus that would allow for court-ordered surveillance of journalists and their acquaintances in an attempt to uncover their sources.
Vladimir Plahotniuc is on the run from Moldovan authorities, and reporters discovered he has a fake Mexican passport.
Members of the Parliament have asked if authorities managed to reclaim millions in taxes from the now-defunct company that was owned by the Russian billionaire. Previous reporting by CIReN and OCCRP revealed the company’s involvement in a fake superyacht-leasing scheme.
A draft law allowing offshore funds to be brought into northern Cyprus with little oversight could turn the breakaway territory into a money laundering hub, experts warn.
An investigation into leaked data exposes scam call centers whose employees convinced thousands of people to make “investments” on fake trading platforms. A call center in Cyprus was part of an operation based in Israel that appears to have targeted 26,810 individuals around the world.
The OCCRP (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project) team of journalists has uncovered details about the multi-million-dollar betting business of Turkish businessman Halil Falyalı. Falyalı’s former CFO Cemil […]
Casino owners are linked to Belarusian officials, politicians and security officials.
Malta was one of the cogs in what Turkish prosecutors allege was a cross-border illegal online betting operation
Halil Falyali, a Turkish Cypriot businessman known for his flashy lifestyle and political connections, was shot dead in 2022. Behind the scenes, he allegedly ran a sprawling illegal online betting empire, according to Turkish prosecutors and his former head of finance, who spoke exclusively to OCCRP.
People working for Abramovich designed a corporate structure to give the false impression that the billionaire’s yachts were being commercially chartered to third parties, and therefore eligible for tax breaks.
Leaked documents show a long-term professional relationship between a Moscow-based law firm co-founded by a Russian politician and Nicos Chr. Anastasiades & Partners, the law firm founded by former Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades.
Philippine authorities have charged Huang Zhiyang with human trafficking, sued him for alleged money laundering, and frozen his accounts. But they were unaware of funds he holds in Cyprus.
Sammy Wilson is under investigation for failing to declare his interest in northern Cyprus before asking a question about the breakaway territory in Parliament.
A history of immigration fraud didn’t catch up with the lawyer for over a decade
When an apparent fraudster impersonated a famous football agent and asked FC Barcelona for 1 million euros, sources say the club attempted to send the money. Though the payment was eventually blocked, experts worry the incident is a sign that football remains vulnerable to corruption despite repeated calls for stronger oversight.
Financial sponsors behind the Freedom and Fairness lobby group trip include Turkish Cypriot hoteliers
For years the absence of transparency in media ownership in the Republic of Cyprus has held the country’s global media pluralism ranking much lower than would be expected of a European Union member state and, more importantly, has tainted the integrity of the journalism produced.
Two companies that Russian state banker Andrei Kostin allegedly used to control a pair of megayachts were transferred to secretive Cyprus investment funds on the eve of the Ukraine invasion, making it impossible to see who owned them, financial records show.
The Cyprus Investigative Reporting Network (CIReN) is an independent non profit investigative media platform committed to the highest professional and ethical standards of quality journalism in the public interest.
CIReN provides support to professional journalists across Cyprus seeking an independent platform to pursue and publish work that exposes social, financial, environmental, political and institutional wrongdoing. Their stories appear here in English, Greek and Turkish, and where possible are translated in all three languages to reach the widest possible audience in Cyprus.
