Cyprus Police have frozen assets worth €51.5 million linked to illegal transactions in recent years, with cases involving naturalisations accounting for the largest sums, the House Audit Committee heard on Thursday.
A police representative told MPs that around half of the cases were connected to naturalisations, as individuals involved had purchased property through the Cyprus Investment Programme. The frozen assets include a mansion valued at €3 million belonging to Jho Low, a Malaysian-born businessman wanted by authorities.
The committee was examining an Audit Office report on the effectiveness of banking sector supervision in preventing money laundering. The police representative said the asset-freezing cases had been finally determined by the courts.
Frozen assets increased sharply in 2026
Figures presented to the committee showed that frozen assets have risen significantly over the past three years.
In 2023, assets worth €550,000 were frozen in nine cases. The total increased to €8.5 million across 26 cases in 2024 and €10.5 million in 28 cases in 2025.
In the first eight months of 2026, the value of frozen assets reached €32 million.
Responding to questions from AKEL MP Christos Christofides, the police representative attributed the increase to a rise in cases linked to naturalisations. He added that investigators trace assets alongside their criminal investigations.
Christofides praised law enforcement authorities for the results but said he was dissatisfied that, during certain periods when suspicious activity was taking place, some people had “slept the sleep of the just”.
Central Bank closes 168,000 accounts
Kleanthis Ioannides, representing the Central Bank of Cyprus, told the committee that inspections had led to the closure of 42,000 bank accounts belonging to shell companies.
A further 126,000 accounts were closed because of breaches of the law.
Cyprus updates money laundering risk assessment
The committee also examined the Audit Office’s concerns over delays in updating Cyprus’ National Risk Assessment on money laundering and terrorist financing.
The previous assessment was completed in 2017 and was based on data covering 2011 to 2016. The Audit Office said it therefore did not adequately reflect subsequent changes in the economic and financial environment.
Work on a new assessment began in December 2025. The Audit Office stressed that it must be completed in time for Moneyval’s next evaluation of Cyprus in 2028.
Kikis Pafitis, representing the Finance Ministry, said the process had been seriously delayed by sanctions imposed on Russia following the war in Ukraine, as well as difficulties in finding experts qualified to carry out such a specialised review.
He said sectoral assessments had been conducted in the meantime, including a separate risk assessment covering cryptocurrencies.
The Central Bank described 2028 as a milestone year for Cyprus because of the Moneyval evaluation. It said the evaluation process would begin in March 2027.
Also read: Three Cyprus fugitives featured on Europol’s most wanted list
For more videos and updates, check out our YouTube channel
