The trial of two former MPs facing criminal charges over a report by news company Al Jazeera into the alleged illegal naturalisations of people as Cyprus citizens, commonly known as the ‘golden passports scandal’, continued on Tuesday, with electronic communications between involved parties examined in court.

Former House president Demetris Syllouris and former Akel MP Christakis Giovani are both facing charges including conspiracy to subvert the Republic and influencing a public official in violation of the laws criminalising corruption.

In court on Tuesday, the testimony of a police officer who works in the police’s cybercrime division continued, with prosecution lawyer Charis Karaolidou calling on him to “search for and present specific electronic messages” found on the computer of real estate agent Tony Kay, who was featured in the documentary.

The computer and its contents have already been submitted as evidence.

As such, a total of eight emails were highlighted, with Kay having sent them to a number of involved parties including his wife Denise Kay, two former defendants in the case who were both cleared, lawyer Andreas Pittadjis and Antonis Antoniou, who worked as an operations manager for Giovani’s property company, and Giovani himself.

The emails had subjects including “visit to Hong Kong”, “meeting in London”, “information on Cyprus”, “due diligence for Nikolai”, “various pending matters”, “meeting minutes”, “issues relating to Hong Kong”, and “arrival in Hong Kong”.

When cross-examined by defence lawyer Chris Triantafyllides, the witness said he had never personally met any of the people involved, and that he was not himself involved in the Cyprus investment programme.

He later said he had participated in the investigation with “specialised personnel” and that he was instructed to “retrieve electronic data storage media”.

Al Jazeera aired an almost hour-long expose of the scandal in October 2020, prompting Syllouris and Giovanis to both resign.

In the documentary, undercover reporters played the role of agents acting on behalf of a fictional Chinese businessman with a criminal record, aiming to secure him Cypriot citizenship.

Syllouris, Giovanis and others were shown offering to help the man in his quest for citizenship despite his criminal record.

The government of the day then scrapped Cyprus’ citizenship by investment scheme, with the European Union having launched legal proceedings over claims the scheme had been used to sell passports to dubious individuals.

A subsequent inquiry found that 53 per cent of 6,779 citizenships granted through the scheme were unlawful, with the government since having commenced the process of cancelling the citizenship of some naturalised through the scheme