The opposition of the President of DIKO and the empathy towards the President of the Republic prove once again that they are pushing him in wrong positions, the Ministry of Interior states in response to today's statements of Nikolas Papadopoulos regarding the investment in Naparias .
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in his statement the President of DIKO states that “the Minister of Interior admitted today in the 3rd Program of RIK the illegality (meaning the naturalization of five people in relation to the investment in Ayia Napa Marina) and that the five disputed, as they did not meet the criteria but the Council of Ministers approved them because the Ministry of Finance requested it “and that” what the Minister of Interior failed to say was that the Council of Ministers had lost the discretion to issue passports for reasons of public interest as well. the Parliament had already passed the relevant Regulations that eliminated this possibility “.
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“In the hasty position of the President of DIKO and in his urging to the Attorney General to move immediately to investigate possible criminal liability, the Ministry of Interior responds that the last five applications concerning the investment in the Ayia Napa Marina, which are mentioned, were submitted in April and May 2019 “, states the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and adds that for their examination all the defined control and due diligence procedures were followed by the Ministry of Interior.
The Ministry of Finance also notes that the Ministry of Finance, “although the data included in the applications did not fully meet the formal financial criteria set by the decision of the Council of Ministers dated 13.2.2019 for exceptional naturalization, however given the wider public interest in the development of the economy from the specific investment, the suggestion was made to submit them to the Council of Ministers for a final decision “.
He also points out that the “examination of these applications was completed by the Ministry of Finance on 27 July 2020, ie before the adoption of the Regulations by the House of Representatives that took place on 31.7.2020 and by the Ministry of Interior on 13.8.2020, ie before publication of the Regulations in the Official Gazette of the Republic placed on 18.8.2020 “.
Noting that on 17.8.2020 an information was sent to the House of Representatives on the submission of the proposal to the Council of Ministers for the exceptional naturalization of the applicants and on the same date the proposal was forwarded to the Secretariat of the Council of Ministers and that the proposal was approved at the next meeting of the Council of Ministers, on 21.8.2020, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs adds that therefore, the submission and the examination process of the applications took place and was completed before the date of publication of the Regulations in the Official Gazette of the Republic, which is the date of their implementation .
“We wonder if Mr. Papadopoulos' reminder” that the Ministers do not have immunity for their own criminal responsibilities “also covers his own inaccurate reports for reasons of pre-election expediency”, the Ministry of Interior concludes.
