03/01/23

CYPRUS: Total immunity to three Russians with Cypriot passports now charged with tax evasion.

As published on in-cyprus.philenews.com, Tuesday 3 January, 2023.

Three Russians who were given Cypriot residency permits and the valued European Union passport are facing charges of evading more than €800 million in taxes in their homeland but are granted total immunity.

This is what Philenews reported on Tuesday referring to Roman Alexandrovich, Kazorin Sergeyevits and Karskov Sergeyevits who are believed to have been beneficiaries of the 1Xbet betting company.

They were granted Cypriot citizenship through the now banned Citizenship by Investment Scheme.

And according to reliable information, there is indeed a request via Interpol for the arrest and extradition of the three individuals in question to the Russian Federation.

However, sources said Cypriot authorities are not prepared to extradite them since they are considered Cypriot nationals and also because Russia has a policy not to extradite its own nationals to other states.

It should be noted that the Republic of Cyprus has an agreement on legal assistance with the Russian authorities. This was predetermined during the years of the Soviet Union but not a specific inter-state agreement on extradition of fugitives, as for example with China.

So the possibility of extradition does not seem a likely scenario in these circumstances.

The three Russian deny any connection with 1Xbet betting company but reports indicate that the company appears to be channelled to Cyprus through a labyrinth of money trails.