Maltese passports for the stamp-collectors of Georgia and Azerbaijan
The prime minister doesn’t know that his chief consultant is debarred permanently by the World Bank for fraud and corruption (dik Defni qed tghid hekk).
Does he also not know that Shiv Nair is incredibly keen on stamp-collecting, and that he organises stamp-collectors in Georgia and Azerbaijan?
The Azerbaijan Philatelic Union is registered to his London office address, and the Georgian Philatelists Union is registered to his Valletta office address.
FASCINATING. It’s all right there on the Inter-Asian Philately website. Is stamp-collecting code for something, or what?
Azerbaijan Philatelic Union
135, Holland Park Avenue,
London W11 4UT,
UK
Georgian Philatelists Union
Ambassador of Georgia to Azerbaijan,
Diplomatic Courier Service,
Lonestar, 12/14 Strait Street,
Valletta,
Malta
More fascinating still, Shiv Nair’s Valletta office appears to be used as a mailing address and more for the Georgian Ambassador to Azerbaijan. Please don’t tell me HE is the Georgian ambassador to Azerbaijan. At this stage, nothing will surprise me.
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http://www.asiaphilately.com/FF.html
Georgian Ambassador to Azerbaijian
http://azerbaijan.mfa.gov.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=219
eimuraz Sharashenidze
Date of birth: 02.01.1952
Place of birth: Tbilisi, Georgia
Little Joey and The Forty Thieves are very keen on passport stamps – perhaps there is a connection
There’s quite a bit of confusion regarding the sale of passports and citizenship so it’s important to clarify matters.
Contrary to what some people think, it is perfectly legal for a country to sell passports. It is, arguably, a good idea too.
It’s an easy way for cash-strapped government to make some money. It’s also a way of enticing and rewarding great personages.
James Dyson might have been a good contender. Maybe he wouldn’t have quit Malta if he were a citizen. And which country wouldn’t jump at the opportunity of having, say, Bill Gates as a citizen?
Having the citizenship of another country has its benefits: tax benefits, easier and safer travel (Americans travelling in the Middle East like to hide their identity for security reasons) and so on.
Portugal has one of the best citizenship programmes in Europe. Ireland has its own. Poland has just introduced one. Spain is mulling one. Clearly, there is a market and there is also great competition. Prices for citizenship are coming down too because of austerity.
This is where the press, democracy and transparency come in. We can’t stop the government from selling Maltese passports but we should be asking questions, and lots of them.
The first question is at what price the government intends to sell the said passports. Prices in Europe are generally between 500,000 and 1,000,000 euros. Cyprus’s is €2.5m. The money can come in investment form, property buying or donation form. Some countries also request the creation of a certain number of jobs, say, 50 jobs.
The second question is who the target market is. If the scheme is used to attract renowned businessmen, scientists and artists, it will have some merit. If it is open to all comers, Malta will end up camouflaging lots of shady people.
The third question is about restrictions. How will the government ensure that criminals and corrupt individuals will not end up finding refuge in Malta? Although trading in passports by nation states is legal, there is certainly a strong hint of corruption around the business.
Montenegro controversially granted citizenship to the exiled former prime minister of Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra in 2009. Austria once similarly gave a passport to the Kazakh’s president son-in-law who was wanted in Kazakhstan for kidnapping (he eventually escaped to Malta). Very recently, an Austrian politician was fined heavily for helping a Russian businessman obtain citizenship in return for political donations. This is very similar to the Peter Mandelson story which Daphne has already mentioned.
All that and we haven’t even mentioned Caribbean countries, although the less said about Barbados’s and Saint Kitts and Nevis’s citizenship schemes the better (John Dalli might be interested in one of these.)
The bottom-line for me is this. Had a Nationalist-led government been selling passports, I wouldn’t have been worrying too much. They have standards and they were always Europe-centric. But this is Labour. It’s a whole different ballgame. Their contacts all come from China, Libya, Russia and other unsavoury countries with no democracy or rule of law.
A Nationalist-led government might have offered citizenship to James Dyson or Sir Chris Evans.
Labour will offer citizenship to people like Shiv Nair who has been blacklisted by the World Bank twice and is still Joseph Muscat’s personal assistant.
NOW CAN THE PRESS GET ON WITH IT AND ASK SOME DAMNED QUESTIONS?
Until June 2012, Amb. Natbiladze was the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of The Republic of Georgia to the Royal Court of Spain, as well as Andorra. He resigned from this position to become the CEO of one of the largest Energy companies in Georgia.
Prior to this, Amb. Natbiladze had a chequered career in the service of his country, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He was The Deputy Secretary of The National Security Council, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Advisor on Energy Security and Ambassador of Georgia to Azerbaijan. For his services to The State he was awarded The Order of Honor.
Prior to joining government service, Ambassador Natbiladze had been a co-founder of the British Caucasian Insurance Company, which subsequently became the second largest insurance company in Georgia and was successfully sold to The Bank of Georgia. He started his career in 1995 as regional director of our sister company British Borneo Holdings Ltd.
http://lavallettecorp.com/managment.html
Will she be buying a Naltese EU passport too? I hear she’s got a few millions she’d like to move to the Bahamas and a former EU Commissioner who’s really keen to help her do that.
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2013/07/this-is-the-woman-who-john-dalli-had-his-meetings-with-in-the-bahamas-mary-swan-aka-emma-corbineloise-marie-corbinnina-petrosmyrna-kleinsuzara-maling-an-international-fraudster-who-uses-fa/
Is this the same address ?
http://www.cii2.org/index.php?option=com_community&view=profile&userid=15047766
http://ferienwohnungmalta.com/Contact.html
And this one ?
Isn’t it sad how the Government is offering citizenship to millionaires, but refusing to extend a helping hand to poor refugees.
On the issue of passport buying, the following makes interesting reading: http://internationalliving.com/2012/03/three-places-you-can-buy-a-second-passport/
“There are currently only three nations out of the 196 official independent countries of the world that offer to sell their citizenship and with it, a second passport. Austria is one.
In the past a few other countries had such controversial programs. In August 2010 Montenegro announced that it would sell economic citizenships, but three months later the program was suspended indefinitely. The program was rumored to have been placed on hold due to pressure from the European Union.”
The connection between the Georgian Philatelists Union and the Valletta address is via Nikoloz Natbiladze.
Apparently, Mr. Natbiladze is an Ambassador of Georgia to Spain (information from the year 2010). (I do not know if he is the Georgian Ambassador to Malta).
http://www.winne.com/dninterview.php?intervid=2959
But Mr. Natbiladze seems to be also the President of the Georgian Philatelists Union.
http://www.ectp.de/landesbeauftragte.pdf
His name also appears in the list of philatelic representatives here:
http://www.fiaf-filatelia.com/organizacion/miembros_fip.html
But remember that Mr. Natbiladze is also one of the persons on the Management Team of La Vallette Corporation of Mr. Nair.
http://lavallettecorp.com/managment.html
H. P. Baxxter had already identified and questioned the link of Mr. Natbiladze with the Philatelic society in an earlier post.
That makes the appointment of Jaime Cremona as ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia even more dubious.
Let me add more.
Daphne asks if Mr. Nair is the Georgian Ambassador to Azerbaijan. According to the post by it-Tezi ta’ Mario above, it seems that he is not.
But Mr. Natbiladze WAS the Georgian Ambassador to Azerbaijan, some years ago since the 1990s. This was before he became Ambassador to Spain.
This is an extract from his bio as per the La Vallette Corporation website:
“Prior to this, Amb. Natbiladze had a chequered career in the service of his country, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He was The Deputy Secretary of The National Security Council, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Advisor on Energy Security and Ambassador of Georgia to Azerbaijan. For his services to The State he was awarded The Order of Honor.”
The same bio also states that Mr. Natbiladze is no longer the Ambassador to Spain and that he is now working for an energy company in Georgia – WHOSE NAME HAS NOT BEEN SPECIFIED.
Perhaps we need more information about the Azerbaijan philatelic association which has its office at 135 Holland Park Avenue as described above.
http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/33_folder/33_articles/33_stamps.html
Yusif Valiyev is an avid stamp collector living in Baku. Fax: (99412) 983 755; e-mail: . To contact the Philatelic Society of Azerbaijan, (Deputy Head, Rafig Aliyev) write P.O. Box 134, Baku 370005. Tel: (99412) 98-88-04 or 93-47-57.
http://www.asiaphilately.com/FF.html
2 Azerbaijan Philatelic Union 135, Holland Park Avenue, London W11 4UT, UK Azerbaijan [email protected]
Shiv Nair’s email address: [email protected]
Nair collects things but it is not stamps. Whoever has been to his office will be able to tell you what interesting memorabilia he has.
Let’s take a wild guess. Communist era anti-celebrities? Red stars? Mao outfits? Propaganda posters of the Great Leap Forward?
taxidermy?
Gawd, what is it? Skulls? Skeletons in the cupboard?
X’tahwid!
We are not just selling passports, we are selling our reputation. From Bloomberg Business Week November 2010.
Montenegro freezes business citizenship offer
Acting on an EU request, Montenegro has frozen its bid to grant citizenship to wealthy businessmen who invest in the country.
Foreign Ministry official Zeljko Stamatovic insists the government has not abandoned the so-called “economic citizenship” program but says it will be “harmonized” with European Union regulations.
Montenegro gained independence in 2006 and is seeking to join the 27-nation EU.
Montenegro had said previously that anyone who invests more than euro500,000 ($704,200) in the republic can apply for citizenship. Critics say moves will attract shady tycoons.
Montenegro has already granted citizenship to former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who fled corruption charges at home and has promised to invest in Montenegrin tourism.
http://www.economist.com/news/international/21586843-hard-up-countries-flog-passports-papers-please
This is the company that is advising the government on the selling of Maltese passports: Henley and Partners Holdings, according to a Reuters report dated February 2012. Their address in Malta is: Level 4, Aragon House, Dragonara Road, St. Julian’s. Full report: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/13/us passport-idU.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d6N-9SRAZ8
This is the company that is advising the government on the selling of Maltese passports: Henley and Partners Holdings, according to a Reuters report dated February 2012. Their address in Malta is: Level 4, Aragon House, Dragonara Road, St. Julian’s. Full report: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/13/us passport-idUSTRE81B05A20120213. Malta is mentioned near end, along with Croatia, under the heading Global Business
Azerbaijan eh? Collected enough stamps to be part of the winning team for the new gas power station? And a Gasan application for a bond issue before the announcement that they are also part of the winning team. We were told they had a road map….