President Nikos Christodoulides on Thursday sent back to parliament a law passed two weeks ago that makes illegal transactions in liquid assets of over €10,000.

The president refused to sign off on the law, citing an error in the text of the bill as passed by the House plenum.

The text has a reference to the effect that the law is based on EU Regulation 2024/1624 – “On the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing.”

However, the president pointed out, the EU regulation calls for enforcement of the cash transaction limit as of July 10, 2027. By contrast, the law passed by the Cyprus parliament would take immediate effect.

The president therefore advises parliament to amend the text, removing the reference that it is based on the EU regulation.

Even though parliament is now formally in recess, the House ethics committee will convene extraordinarily this coming Monday to review the president’s referral of the law.

The attorney-general and the finance minister have been summoned to the committee session.

After the committee adjourns, MPs will likely hold an extraordinary session of the plenum to decide what to do with the president’s referral.

The law passed on December 5 makes illegal transactions over €10,000 in liquid assets; violations are punishable by fines or even jail time.

Such transactions cover not only the purchase of goods and services, but also sales of real estate.

Liquid assets include cash, transferable securities, commodities used as highly liquid stores of value, as well as prepaid cards.