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Cyprus

September

ASIC pursued the audit firm at iSignthis on criminal charges. They’re all but guaranteed to be dropped.

Grant Thornton enters audit rehab

The audit firm and former director Brad Taylor have taken to a court-ordered program over its involvement in iSignthis.

  • Mark Di Stefano

June

iSignthis CEO John Karantzis’ performance share issuance is “now closed”.

iSignthis vindicated, according to shell of iSignthis

Piercing John Karantzis’ indomitable self-narrative was difficult in Melbourne. Now that he’s based in Nicosia, it’s nigh-on impossible.

  • Myriam Robin

Guzman lists on ASX; Dutton ‘to reveal nuke costs’; Secret GYG winner

Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.

Hezbollah supporters watch a speech given by the militant group leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut.

Hezbollah chief threatens Cyprus in war with Israel

The leader of the militant group issued the threat as fears grow of a full-blown war across Lebanon’s southern border in Israel.

  • Laila Bassam and Maya Gebeily

May

From left, Itzik Gelernter, Shani Louk and Amit Buskila. The Israeli military says its troops in Gaza found the bodies of the three Israeli hostages killed by Hamas during its October 7.

Israel recovers bodies of hostages amid fierce fighting in northern Gaza

The Israeli military says it has retrieved the bodies of three Israeli hostages from Gaza including Shani Louk, the 23-year-old German Israeli, who was pronounced dead last year.

  • Nidal al-Mughrabi and Nataliya Vasilyeva
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March

The first shipment arrives by sea.

First sea aid unloaded in Gaza as ceasefire talks to resume

The 200 tons of food provided by a celebrity chef’s charity arrived by sea as UNICEF said rising numbers of children in Gaza were facing food deprivation.

  • Monika Pronczuk, Gaya Gupta and Nicholas Fandos
Palestinians rush to get humanitarian aid dropped by the US Air Force at the weekend.

US dispatches aid ship to Gaza after Biden vows to build pier

The logistics support vessel is “carrying the first equipment to establish a temporary pier to deliver vital humanitarian supplies”, the US Army said.

  • Muhammad Al Gebaly

December 2023

Palestinians line up for food in Rafah, on the border of Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip.

Egypt seeks to broker Gaza ceasefire as Hamas, Israel assert demands

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh visited Egypt for the first time in more than a month for discussions with Egyptian officials who are seeking to mediate another truce.

  • Nidal al-Mughrabi, Bassam Masoud and Dan Williams

November 2023

The Ukraine invasion in February 2022 triggered frantic emails for Russian clients of PwC Cyprus.

Emails show PwC helped Russians dodge sanctions

Leaked documents reveal how accounting giant PwC’s Cyprus arm scrambled to help Russian oligarchs stay ahead of sanctions in the days after the Ukraine invasion.

  • Neil Chenoweth
Cyprus Confidential is an international investigation based on 3.6 million leaked documents

What is Cyprus Confidential?

An eight-month investigation of 3.6 million leaked documents has uncovered how Cyprus offshore firms helped Russian elites hide their wealth.

  • Neil Chenoweth
A wealthy German engineer and entrepreneur, Rüdiger Koch, declared that the Thai authorities “need to learn their lesson … You have to realise you are a single f---ing human, even if you are an admiral. And we’re coming for you.”

How not to assassinate an admiral in Phuket

Kobus Steyn thought he’d found a whale of a client. Then his assignment turned from make-work to murder.

  • Paul Murphy

October 2023

People buy fruit and vegetables from farmers from the part of Israel hit by the Hamas incursion directly on October 7.

War with Hamas tests Israel’s economic resilience

The military call-ups and partial economic freeze have triggered a sudden crash in activity and upended everything from banking to agriculture.

  • Galit Altstein

July 2023

Israeli police use water cannon to disperse demonstrators blocking the road leading to the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.

Protests as Israel votes on divisive legal changes

Demonstrators, many of whom feel the very foundations of their country are being eroded by the government’s plan, stepped up their opposition to changes that would erode courts’ powers.

  • Tia Goldenberg and Isaac Scharf

March 2023

The “Silver Living Room” inside the house Vladimir Putin has built on Lake Valdai.

Putin ‘lives in golden palace with gymnast lover’

The Russian president used a “slush fund” to build a heavily guarded $178 million property empire, a media investigation has found.

  • Nataliya Vasilyeva

February 2023

Nickel balls ready for shipment.

Trafigura offered $22m from alleged nickel fraudster using Mauritian bank

In an affidavit, the firm’s former head nickel trader detailed how Prateek Gupta offered financing from Silver Bank as part of proposals aimed at “repairing the rapidly deteriorating trading relationship”.

  • Robert Smith and Harry Dempsey
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November 2022

The European Central Bank’s head of financial supervision has warned that regulators will struggle to oversee crypto asset providers.

Regulators will struggle to supervise crypto groups, warns ECB

The European Central Bank’s head of financial supervision said crypto asset providers pose “a huge consumer protection issue”.

  • Martin Arnold

July 2022

TAMIM’s head of Australian equities, Ron Shamgar, is a big fan of EML Payments.

Ron Shamgar, EML rocketman

For a professional fund manager, Ron Shamgar cultivates a strikingly unsophisticated social media profile.

  • Joe Aston

March 2022

The quality of defence spending has to be monitored carefully.

Defence spendathon must buy a genuine firepower boost

Military spending is being rapidly rethought around the world. But effective defence needs far more than just a higher share of GDP.

  • Steven Hamilton

January 2022

iSignthis chief executive John Karantzis at the international departure gate in December.

iSignthis ditches licence bid as Karantzis moves to Cyprus

Suspended payments company iSignthis has confirmed its chief executive John Karantzis has relocated to Cyprus.

  • Updated
  • Michael Roddan

December 2021

ISX chief executive John Karantzis at the international departure gate.

John Karantzis, Christmas miracle

The iSignthis CEO was at the airport within hours of his departure ban being lifted.

  • Michael Roddan

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/cyprus-8wa