According to the Politis newspaper Low obtained Cyprus nationality under the country’s investment for passport scheme after buying a mansion for 5 million euros (RM23 million) in the resort town of Agia Napa. He immediately left the island after purchasing the property and getting the passport, the report said.
Bloomberg News said a senior Cypriot government official had confirmed that Low has Cypriot nationality, but the Archbishop wasn’t available for comment.
According to Politis, Chrysostomos sent at least two letters to the country’s then-interior minister asking for Low’s naturalisation as the two were in talks for investment on church property.
Low has been painted by prosecutors as the mastermind behind the 1MDB scandal. He recently struck a deal with the U.S. Justice Department to return almost US$1 billion of assets to resolve forfeiture cases linked to him.
His whereabouts remain unknown despite Interpol issuing a red notice against him last year. Malaysian police said they know his location but that he’s being protected by a certain party, with whom they are conducting talks to bring him back.
Cyprus citizenship-for-investment scheme to be reviewed
The Cyprus Investment Plan, by which Jho Low obtained a Cyprus passport and Cypriot nationality, is to be reviewed according to the island nation’s interior minister, Constantinos Petrides.
Petrides said on Twitter that the government will also look into a newspaper report that Low had secured the citizenship despite background checks raising several red flags.
Cyprus, an island nation in the eastern Mediterranean, is a member of the European Union and its citizens can travel freely and live and work anywhere within the EU.
The interior minister at the time when Jho Low obtained citizenship has called for it to be revoked if its proven that Low had committed any crime.
Socrates Hasicos said on Twitter that the Cypriot police had informed him at the time (2015) that Low had no criminal record.
The Cyprus Investment Plan provides citizenship for those who deposit 5 million euros in a Cypriot bank for three years and purchases a permanent home worth at least 500,000 euros.
According to a Cyprus newspaper, Low was granted citizenship on Sept 18, 2015, after meeting Hasicos and later purchasing an unfinished villa worth five million euros.