Law firms in Cyprus fined €464,000 over three years

Over the course of three years, law firms in the Republic of Cyprus have been fined a total of €464,000 for violations of laws regarding "golden passports" and money laundering. The country intends to establish a single supervisory authority to monitor the activities of law and audit firms as part of its anti-money laundering efforts.

This was discussed during a session of the legislative committee of the Parliament of the Republic of Cyprus. According to local media reports, the Ministry of Finance, in turn, proposes to inspect only the 50 largest companies specializing in providing legal, auditing, and consulting services.

According to the President of the Cyprus Bar Association, Michalis Vorkas, the association can continue to independently monitor its members. In particular, over the past three years, from 2021 to 2023, the association conducted 250 inspections of its members' activities and imposed fines totaling €464,000 on violators.

It is reported that in 2021, 10 inspections were conducted regarding compliance with the provisions of the law on granting citizenship of the Republic of Cyprus in exchange for investments, three inspections regarding the "Pandora Papers," and one regarding money laundering. The total amount of fines was €21,000.

In 2022, the Bar Association conducted 17 inspections regarding compliance with the naturalization law and 160 inspections regarding compliance with laws on combating money laundering and terrorist financing. Fines totaling €149,000 were imposed on violators.

And finally, last year, 74 inspections were conducted regarding compliance with anti-money laundering laws.

The total amount of fines was €294,000. It is worth reminding that it was previously reported that over the past two years, the Unit for Combating Money Laundering (MOKAS) confiscated around €10 million in Cyprus. Additionally, nine luxury cars, four real estate properties, and cryptocurrency were seized.