Israeli developer jailed for illegal real‑estate scheme in northern Cyprus
October 27, 2025 at 5:15 pm. Middle East Monitor
A view of the front side of the Supreme Court of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus, on Feb. 24, 2023. [Photo by Kostas Pikoulas/NurPhoto via Getty Images]
The properties of desperate people unable to access their home due to political divides were illegally sold off by Israelis to make fortunes, it has emerged after a Cypriot court convicted an Israeli developer over an illegal real estate scheme.
A court in Nicosia, Cyprus, sentenced last week, Israeli businessman Shimon Mistriel Aykout to five years in prison for illegally developing and selling luxury apartment complexes on land belonging to Greek Cypriots in Turkish‑Cypriot north of the island. The rightful owners are unbale to access their land because they are located in the Turkey-backed region.
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According to AP News, between 2014 and 2024, Aykout headed the Afik Group of Companies and developed approximately 400,000 m² (4.3 million sq ft) of Greek‑Cypriot‑owned land in four villages in the north. Cypriot authorities estimate the value of the developments at more than $44 million.
Local sources reported that the Israeli developer pleaded guilty to 40 counts of building and selling apartments on the disputed land, after originally facing over 200 charges including fraudulent real‑estate transactions, illegal land use and money‑laundering. His arrest took place in June 2024 as he crossed into the Greek‑Cypriot south.
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Prosecuting attorney Andreas Aristides said the ruling sends “a clear message … that if you buy, build or otherwise use land in the occupied areas that belongs to Greek Cypriots, you’re committing serious criminal acts.”
The judgment is said to have “triggered panic” in the booming northern real‑estate sector and “shattered the illusion of legal impunity.”
The ruling comes amid a series of similar prosecutions: over the past year Cyprus has also prosecuted another Israeli a Ukrainian, a German and two Hungarians in related property‑fraud cases in the north.
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