Former transport minister Marios Demetriades on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to charges he faces in relation to “suspicious” naturalisations of new Cypriot citizens under Cyprus’ citizenship through investment scheme, commonly known as the ‘golden passport’ scheme.

Demetriades was one of nine defendants – seven people and two legal entities – to plead not guilty to charges including bribery, extortion, conspiracy to defraud and money laundering.

The lawyer representing a tenth defendant filed a preliminary objection to the case, claiming that the court has no jurisdiction as his client is not a citizen of Cyprus, but is in fact Austrian.

The Austrian national’s lawyer, Harry Georgiou, argued that the offences of which his client is accused “are alleged offences which concern exclusively a foreign country and a foreign national”.

The court will examine this objection on June 20, while the trial of the remaining nine defendants will begin on September 15.

Demetriades served under former President Nicos Anastasiades between 2014 and 2018, with the interim findings of an investigation into the ‘golden passport’ scheme in 2021 having found that a total of 137 naturalisations which had been promoted by a law firm linked to Demetriades had been given the nod at cabinet meetings he had attended.

He said in September last year that he is a scapegoat and that he was being targeted in the case.

“For three full years my personal, family and professional life has been thoroughly checked, as have all my political decisions [and] no fault was found,” he said.

“I have absolute trust in justice, knowing that in the end truth and justice always prevail,” he added.