Kenyan billionaire Humphrey Kariuki is one of the 26 rich foreign investors whose ‘golden passport’ Â is set to be revoked by the Cyprus Government. Cyprus is set to revoke citizenship in cases where certain criteria were not adequately met, as stated by officials.
According to a report by Cyprusmail, the island country is in the process of revoking citizenship for Kariuki and his wife Stelia Nasike. They are also revoking citizenship for nine Russians, eight Cambodians, five Chinese, and one Malaysian.
On November 7, 2019, BBC reported that the Interior Minister Constantinos Petrides stated that there had been ‘mistakes’ in processing some citizenship requests. This led to the decision where Cyprus set to revoke citizenship from certain individuals.
“It was a mistake not to have criteria, for instance, for high-risk persons,” he told the publication.
Kariuki is facing charges of evading to pay Ksh41 billion in taxes, through his businesses, Africa Spirits, and Wines of the World, bringing his eligibility for Cyprus citizenship into question.
The investigations to Kariuki’s case began on January 30, 2019, when DCI got information about a trailer that was suspected to be transporting uncustomed goods. With these unfolding events, Cyprus has set its course to revoke citizenship due to legal complications faced by Kariuki.
The officers tracked the lorry and found it parked at the compound of Africa spirits Limited/ WOW beverages Limited.
Thereafter, they found 80 drums of unaccustomed ethanol each around 250 litres.
KRA investigations showed that WOW beverages had evaded taxes amounting to Ksh41,539,038,448 between 2014 and 2019.
ByÂ
Source-kenyans.co.ke
