The inquiry into Cyprus’s exceptional naturalisation of investors and businesspeople made no mention of Li Jianping, a Chinese Communist Party official who obtained a Cypriot passport and was later executed in China for embezzlement.
The report also said nothing about his son, Suchao Li, the family’s friends or anyone else involved in their naturalisation. This was despite Interpol telling the Cyprus Police the previous year that Suchao Li was wanted in China.
Phileleftheros revealed details of the case on Wednesday. Cyprus Police are investigating a case against Suchao Li and examining the roles of Yuedong Cui, a friend of the family, and Meiji Cui, Yuedong Cui’s mother. Both also received Cypriot citizenship. Based on their inquiries so far, police are examining whether the three laundered part of the money Jianping Li embezzled by buying property in Cyprus.
Jianping Li, Suchao Li and their wives obtained Cypriot passports through applications filed by the law firm Yiannis Papazacharia LLC, according to published MOKAS documents.
Jianping Li was executed on December 17, 2024, after an appeals court upheld his conviction for embezzling close to half a billion euros from state funds.
Interpol alert
Interpol informed the Cyprus Police on June 25, 2020, that Suchao Li was suspected of contractual fraud under Article 224 of the Chinese criminal code, a financial offence that carries a life sentence in China. Police passed the information to the Interior Ministry the next day.
The properties
The Chinese authorities’ information and the Cyprus Police’s own investigation both point to property the three bought from construction company PAFILIA and the Holy Metropolis of Paphos.
Phileleftheros traced the case through a charging order on two properties worth a combined 17 million euros. One is a flat in Limassol valued at 14.5 million euros and the other a residential property in Tsada, Paphos, worth 2.5 million euros. The order was obtained following a request made through MOKAS, the anti-money laundering unit.
According to police, PAFILIA sold the Limassol flat, while the company and the Metropolis jointly sold the Tsada property. PAFILIA sued the Li family to cancel the sale of the Limassol flat and won, after the court found the family had not kept up payments on it.
The inquiry
Former Supreme Court president Myron Nikolatos headed the inquiry committee, with Kyriakos Kyriakou, Pavlos Ioannou and Dimitra Kalogirou as members. It completed its findings on June 7, 2021, and delivered them to Attorney General Giorgos Savvides.
Dozens of officials worked for the committee, which submitted an interim report to the head of the Law Office on April 16, 2021. The final report runs to more than 780 pages.
