Cyprus is to start moves to strip seven people of Cypriot citizenship for violating the terms of a passport-for-investment scheme, the island’s president told AFP on Friday.

In the past “there were some deficiencies or loopholes in the programme. And that’s why we have adopted so many steps … to introduce more effective control mechanisms,” President Nicos Anastasiades said in an interview.

Cyprus began offering citizenship in exchange for substantial investment as far back as 2007, but the scheme was stepped up following the Mediterranean island’s 2013 economic crisis.