A Ukrainian woman who reported being robbed of €420,000 in Limassol has been cleared of money laundering charges after police discovered she had made 20 trips to Cyprus carrying €7.8 million—but prosecutors failed to prove the money had a criminal origin.
The 32-year-old told police on 1 March 2024 that unknown persons on a motorcycle had snatched €420,000 from her. The report triggered an investigation that uncovered she had arrived in Cyprus 20 times between August 2023 and March 2024, transporting €7,769,300 in total.
Larnaca Criminal Court acquitted her on Wednesday of 20 money laundering charges carrying up to 14 years’ imprisonment. However, the court found a prima facie case on 20 charges of making false customs declarations, which carry up to five years.
The court also cleared a 43-year-old Ukrainian man who had received a package from the woman on 1 March, which allegedly contained money connected to the reported robbery.
Court: No evidence money was criminal
The court ruled prosecutors proved the woman lied about why she was bringing the money into Cyprus, but failed to prove where it actually came from was criminal.
“The Prosecuting Authority failed to prove a prima facie case against the defendants on all money laundering charges, whilst on the other hand, managed to prove a prima facie case against the defendant on all false declaration charges, but only regarding the purpose for which money was brought into Cyprus and not their origin,” the court said in its interim decision.
The court noted that evidence lacked elements showing the imported money had a criminal origin.
“Money was not used for the purpose the defendant declared. As to whether these had criminal origin, the evidence before us shows that the defendant, through her completions of currency declarations before customs authorities, referred to the sources of origin of each imported amount and the Prosecuting authority with the evidence it presented did not convincingly cast these in doubt, nor presented any other evidence about other suspects related to the acquisition of the money,” the decision stated.
In other words: the woman told customs where the money came from, and prosecutors couldn’t prove those sources were false or criminal—but she lied about what she planned to do with it once in Cyprus.
Proceedings on the false declaration charges will continue on 4 February. If convicted, the woman faces up to five years’ imprisonment on each of the 20 counts.
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