Al Jazeera’s documentary on Cyprus passport scheme up for Bafta

The al Jazeera undercover documentary The Cyprus Papers that exposed some of the players involved in the island’s citizenship by investment scheme has been nominated for a Bafta award, it emerged on Wednesday.

Bafta, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts on Wednesday announced the nominations for the Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards and British Academy Television Craft Awards.

These awards reward the very best in television craft and television programmes broadcast in the UK in 2020, Bafta says.

The Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards ceremony takes place on Sunday June 6 on BBC One and BBC One HD, and the British Academy Television Craft Awards will be streamed on Bafta social channels on Monday May 24.

The al Jazeera documentary on Cyprus was released late last year and brought the citizenship by investment programme crashing down with the revelation that politicians were ready to facilitate a fictitious Chinese investor with a criminal record to obtain a Cyprus passport.

It led to the resignation of the then House President Demetris Syllouris and his close friend Akel MP Christakis Giovanis. Both men are to appear before the committee probing the scheme later on Wednesday. An interim report on the whole passports scheme was released on Tuesday laying out a litany of irregularities by the authorities in the implementation of the programme.

Al Jazeera tweeted on Wednesday about the Bafta nomination: “Huge news! The Cyprus Papers undercover investigation has been nominated for best Current Affairs programme this year. Good luck to all nominees and huge congratulations to the I-Unit team. Fantastic achievement,” the channel tweeted.