The criminal case against former Transport Minister Marios Demetriades in relation to “suspicious” naturalisations of new Cypriot citizens under Cyprus’ citizenship through investment scheme, commonly known as the ‘golden passport’ scheme, was on Thursday adjourned until March.

Demetriades and nine other defendants, seven natural persons and two legal entities, will now appear in court on March 18 to be informed of the charges they face.

In total, they face 59 charges, related to bribery, extortion, conspiracy to defraud and corruption.

In court on Thursday, defence lawyers asked the court for more time to process the material they were handed by the prosecuting authority, saying that due to the large volume of material handed over, they have not yet had time to study it all.

They added that the latest material had only been handed to them on Wednesday morning.

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 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.