Evidence presented in ‘golden passport’ trial

The trial of the golden passport case with four defendants, including former transport minister Marios Demetriades, continued on Monday before the Nicosia criminal court with the presentation of evidence. The first prosecution witness was officer AA from the police headquarters CID, who accepted her written testimony and presented documents to support it. The evidence was mainly documents concerning naturalisations of individuals from Cambodia and China, who had obtained Cypriot passports. Defence lawyer Elias Stefanou said he intended to raise an objection to evidence, which is expected to be presented during the next hearings. The next hearing has been set for Tuesday at 9.30am. Ten defendants in total, eight people and two companies, face trial, with charges spanning influence peddling, bribery, extortion, conspiracy to defraud, VAT fraud and money laundering.