Cyprus Seeks Foreign Aid in Russian Sanction Evasion Investigations

President Christodoulides plans to set up a Single Supervisory Authority to crack down on financial malfeasance.

Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides has requested the assistance of foreign financial crime experts from an unnamed third country to aid in investigations into allegations of Russian sanction evasion.
The foreign experts will assist a team of seven police investigators in examining old and new media reports alleging that Cyprus-based lawyers and accountants helped Russian oligarchs move money through a network of companies and trusts to evade sanctions.
The latest allegations were published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, citing leaked documents that claim to show how some Cypriot firms helped Russian oligarchs move their money to evade sanctions.
President Christodoulides is also planning to set up a Single Supervisory Authority, an independent body of financial crime experts, to crack down on any financial malfeasance or sanctions evasion.
Christodoulides defended Cyprus' efforts to clean up its banking sector since 2013, when the country needed a multibillion-euro bailout, and conceded it would take time for Cyprus to rebrand itself as a prime investment opportunity.