Will the Opposition be so kind as to bring up this point in parliament?
The abrogation of that part of the Citizenship Act which makes it mandatory to publish, in the Government Gazette, the names of those who have acquired Maltese citizenship, is not incidental.
It is great, red warning light which tells us, when the dots are joined up with other facts and details, that the government’s intentions for its cash-for-passports scheme are highly suspect.
One of my readers has brought up an extremely pertinent point that cannot be avoided by the Opposition, who must hound the government about it.
With names not being published, and the entire scheme in the hands of a private company which is accustomed ordinarily to dealing in financial-services-blacklisted jurisdictions like St Kitts & Nevis and Antigua & Barbuda, and with full discretionary power vested in the minister responsible, the Maltese government is able not only to sell Maltese passports but to sell completely new Maltese identities.
Basically, we have a situation now where somebody who wants to change his identity – or simply acquire another passport with a ‘clean’ identity – can buy one off the Maltese government/Henley & Partners for a small consideration, not all of which need necessarily go into the government’s coffers or the corporation’s.
The scope for abuse and corruption is enormous. And all we have is the government’s reassurance of ‘due diligence’. And this from a government that claims not to know that its consultant Shiv Nair is permanently debarred by the World Bank, because “due diligence did not indicate this”.
17 Comments Comment
Reply to H.P. Baxxter Click here to cancel reply
We are indeed in dire straits if the PN cannot read the writing on the wall.
Do you have to tell the PN what to say or look-out for – are they completely in a trance or what? Dr. De Marco and today Dr. Busuttil did make what I think are rather feeble attempts to try and make people understand what the new law really entails.
They need to wake up and forget about being called ‘negative’. The people who voted PN and others who are now really worried must be given some assurances that their rights are not being trampled upon.
The 9-seat majority that the PL obtained does not mean that the government can do what the hell they like without being accountable.
Totally agree.
Unless the PN, and whoever has a voice, bombard the government constantly with pertinent questions, we are going to find ourselves in a very different Malta from the one we knew up till March.
Comatose is much more like it. Although by now, they may have even flat-lined.
The PN is failing miserably to communicate on these and other issues. Whereas I voted for the Nationalist party in the previous election, and only because I considered them the lesser of the two evils, I now feel that my vote was nothing more than a waste of time.
I have put my faith in representatives who are unable to represent me and who fail, at the most basic levels, to even react to all the negative going-ons. Mediocracy cannot suffice any longer.
How exciting! I mean, shall I soon have Shiv Nair (or whatever he chooses to call himself) as my compatriot?
[Daphne – No, he is not eligible under this system. It is open only to those who do not already hold an EU passport, and he holds a British one.]
And if we do not get to know who those acquiring Maltese passports are, how are we going to know what investments they make here for the benefit of Malta and the Maltese?
[Daphne – They are not required to make any investment, but only to pay EUR650,000 to the government of Malta, with additional sums of EUR25,000 for wives and children and EUR50,000 for random parents.]
Yes, you are right, and I am aware of this fact.
But the government’s intention is that it wants more than the passport money.
I was watching TV recently – can’t remember which program or channel it was – and the chairman of Identity Malta was saying that once a ‘foreigner’ is given a Maltese citizenship, the ‘foreigner’ could be contacted and ‘asked’ to make investments and contributions to Malta.
The government says it is after high net worth individuals.
http://www.independent.com.mt/mobile/2013-10-09/news/government-aiming-to-raise-30-million-next-year-from-citizenship-scheme-2839773184/
The point made by the chairman of Identity Malta is actually confirmed in this article:
http://www.independent.com.mt/mobile/2013-10-13/news/government-promises-most-rigorous-due-diligence-process-in-the-world-2873327616/
“But over and above this initial contribution, the high net worth individuals once they have gained Maltese citizenship could also be approached to bring new business to the country, potentially creating a promising ripple ‘Foreign’ Direct Investment effect. The potential here, the government believes, could far outstrip the €650,000 ‘contribution’ to the fund.”
To be honest, I can’t see how the government can chase after persons who have bought a Maltese passport and ask them to contribute to the Maltese economy, but this is a Labour government we are talking about.
If the government really wanted the high net worth individuals to invest in Malta, it should have implemented a totally different scheme, that of granting Maltese citizenship through heavy investment in Malta and contribution to the Maltese economy.
By saying that the selling of passports would attract further investment, is only a Labour way of trying to impress the sheep that what they are doing is not as bad as some are trying to make it out to be.
Although a lot of us are not impressed by these statements, unfortunately, there are many who are.
They’re just trying to hoodwink the general public and make the scheme look halfway decent to those who don’t know any better, Ciccio. Don’t believe any of that extra investing stuff for a second. If it happens, it will be the exception, not the rule.
There was a time when Maltese citizens were ashamed to show their passports abroad because of its green colour associated with international terrorist Gaddafi and its infantile artistic hodge-podge collection of cactus, boats and threshing tools.
We are now going to be ashamed for much more serious reasons. The Malta passport is going to become a commodity offered for sale to doubtful characters in search of new identities.
There are bound to be more and more instances when our political leaders would be able to pretend that they do not know that they are associating with crooks who may not only be blacklisted by the World Bank but may even be holding Maltese passports.
At times you come across car dealers’ adverts selling, say, a ‘BMW X5 “ta’ Malta” to differentiate from the second hand cars imported from the UK or wherever. When presenting the Maltese passport you can always qualify it by saying that’s its a ‘Passaport ta’ Malta mill-originali’, jew Passaport ta’ Malta mill-Antiki.
I fully agree that the Opposition should bare their teeth in this matter and make it very clear that when they are returned to government, the names of all persons granted citizenship will be published and shady characters may risk being stripped of it.
They’ll wake up in time to electioneer.
This is Mary Swan’s chance to get yet another passport.
Who told you she doesn’t already have a Maltese one?
The Opposition must make it unequivocally clear that once in Government it reserves the right to withdraw the scheme and the passports without any refunds from the buyers.
On another point, in my opinion, the greatest tragedy in all this is the slow lane approach taken by the Opposition. Sorry to say this, but until now, it has proved to be toothless. Eddie Fenech Adami was never detered by the Mintoffian thugs in Parliament or outside it. The present Leader and the PN seem to have been detered by a ruling pronounced the Socialist Speaker against Dr. Busuttil.
Irrespective of what other countries have individually put into practice, if approached from a EU regulatory and supervisory perspective, has citizenship now become an instrument or product of / for financial services institutions?
Let’s go back and look at Muscat’s involvement at the EU parliament and this time as rapporteur:
This particular report highlights a number of areas which, even if since updated, the financial services industry as a whole could be looking at with more attention:
on Towards further consolidation in the financial services industry
(2006/2081(INI))
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
Rapporteur: Joseph Muscat
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+REPORT+A6-2006-0170+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=en
…
F. whereas the role of EU and national policy makers is to set up a regulatory and supervisory framework that stimulates growth; improves the competitiveness of the EU’s economy; guarantees a level playing field; safeguards market efficiency, integrity, transparency and the stability of the financial system; and protects depositors, investors and insured persons,
…
2. Considers that consolidation in financial markets should not aim to reach a particular number of financial institutions and that it must be proportionate to competition in the financial markets;
…
9. Believes that diversity of financial institutions, which better reflects the variety of financing needs of corporate entities, SMEs and consumers, should be preserved and that, therefore, EC legislation should not favour any single type of business model or corporate structure or any single type of product over another
…
16. Points out that divergent national supervisory practices and standards may reduce market efficiency, increase the operating costs of those financial institutions operating across borders, and thus mitigate the beneficial effects of and ultimately fragmenting the single financial market;
…
The current level of concentration of markets, financial actors and infrastructures in the EU is high, and so is their interdependence. In this respect, in highly integrated financial markets, a crisis which could easily spread over national jurisdictions, turn into a pan-European financial crisis and ultimately hit the stability of the Euro and European economies, can not be efficiently tackled by national supervisory authorities acting on a solo basis anymore.
…
The current networks of national authorities of the 25 Member States comprise various supervisory and regulatory bodies with differing powers, responsibilities and level of involvement in crisis management, and the present supervisory arrangements and non-legally binding memoranda of understanding, are not adequate and sufficient to tackle a pan- European crisis caused by a failure of markets or systemically important cross-border financial conglomerates.
In this respect, European legislators should launch in-depth discussions on the appropriate structure of supervision of EU financial markets, clarification of powers and responsibilities between home and host supervisors and adequate crisis management procedures, and not wait for a major pan-European crisis.
In my thinking, Muscat has homed in on the loophole, or was helped to – and perhaps we should also not be shocked to consider: gave it the necessary slant.
These are the words I would delve into further with the European Union:
“cannot be efficiently tackled by national supervisory authorities acting on a solo basis anymore.”
Is the Maltese Government guaranteeing the “integrity, transparency and stability” of the financial system with its current intentions?
Just to put things in context, to show the extremes of EVIL to which this government has sunk, compare this to another case of acquired passports.
When you join the Foreign Legion, you are allowed to take on another name and change your identity, as a clean break with the past. After three years of service, or less if you are wounded in action, you can apply for French citizenship. Then you are re-assigned your real name, and that name and surname, together with the place of residence and the file number of the citizenship application, are published in the French Government Gazette.