Henley & Partners to gain minimum of Eur28.8 million a year from selling Maltese passports
Published:
November 8, 2013 at 12:00pm
This was reported yesterday. But then the newspapers failed to do the obvious thing, and work out how much Henley & Partners is going to receive in straight fees and commission on those 300 passports.
Let’s do it ourselves.
Eur70,000 client processing fee
Eur26,000 commission from the government of Malta
———
Eur96,000
This is straight income from the sale of just one passport.
On 300 passports, Henley & Partners will receive income of 300 x Eur96,000 = Eur28.8 million.
That’s right. Those sharks at Henley & Partners are going to pull in Eur28.8 million a year for themselves alone by selling 300 Maltese passports.
No wonder a couple of them have a personal address in the Channel Islands.
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And if you multiply 300 Maltese/EU passports by Euro 650,000 (the full value of a passport), that’s a gross value of euro 195 million per annum.
So why did Joseph Muscat say that this scam will generate euro 30 million per annum? Where was he hiding the difference of euro 165 million?
If I’m not mistaken, official budget estimates say 15 million euros not 30 million as Joseph said.
Members of Joseph Muscat’s evil clique.
Gaps in official budget projections and marketing targets are therefore, on this basis alone, already widely different.
This Government has an alarming manner of intentionally shooting out statements and headlines that are aimed at placating and blinding a nation.
Can’t it be transparent on any issue?
Are the budget figures going to be adjusted accordingly? and a press release issued?
Is the work unjustly farmed out exclusively to Henley by Government, in the scam that the Government seems hell-bent on passing, really worth that much money?
What a swift ROI. There is no way that Henley suddenly popped onto the Labour scene since only March 9th, 2013.
The Labour Party should never have kept this scam out of its ‘manifest.’
It’s evidently been on the cards since at least 2007 – 2008, when Joseph Muscat was MEP.
What does this say about the procurement process?
This and Shiv Nair have a long history.
The (Malta) Labour Party also has a long history of deceit.
But you have to factor in their hidden overheads.
Imagine the brown envelopes exchanging hands.
Someone will have more cash at home to declare next year. More than the Eur500,000 he has already got hidden inside his Faberge eggs.
Henley and Partners will be just a front.
Most of the Eur28.8 million will go elsewhere.
They will end up in places like the Bahamas and the British Virgin Islands and laundered there.
Certain people might even feel it is safer to keep a good chunk of it at home.
Jien ma niflahx nisma aktar! Meta ser ikun hemm xi grupp ta’ persuni li jiehdu l-inizjattiva biex jingabru firem biex ifittex isir referendum fuq dan l-iskandlu tas-seklu.
Dear`Daphne,
Keep it up with your work.
Yesterday Dr `Rachel Tua, mentiones you during Sfera programme on fliving (favourite channel) while they were discussing cyber bullying between 21.30 & 23.15.
This is a programme dedicated for youths which is conducted by Kevin Mercieca…they didn’t mention you by name but they were refering to you absolutely.
Thanks,
Take care,
Maurice
Mela b’dik ir-rata dalwaqt nigi barrani go arti stess. Le, muhiex accettabbli.
This is if we believe Muscat and Mallia that Henley are going to receive only €26,000 as commission.
How ironic: this is the same party that was critical when national entities were privatised. If this isn’t a case of selling the family jewels, I don’t know what is.
Plus due diligence fees of Eur7,500 per applicant.
Plus 50% mark-up for ‘fast-tracking’.
Nice monopoly for Henley and Friends.
Sale of passports BLA KONDIXIN
I wonder why Malta is the only country to sell passports in the EU? Why is Greece not doing it as well? They are desperate for cash.
They’re not as corrupt, perhaps.
How can we be sure that the whole amount is being kept by Henley and Partners without chunks of it going, say, to a charity in the Bahamas?
Another interesting piece of maths:
300 x €650k = €195 million
OK so a portion of the 300 will be at the cheapo wife & child price, but still the take by government would be a damn sight more than the €30 million they’re projecting. Definitely €100million+ I’d say.
I’m just so glad that it will all be so rigorously scrutinised, controlled, and absolutely transparent, in the hands of Manuel Mallia & Co.
It would be interesting to find out whether Henley & Partners are advising potential buyers that if the opposition is returned to power passports may be cancelled. If not, than I bet they will face hefty law suits.
I hope Henley and Partners will be telling their customers about the stand taken by the Opposition. If not should a future Nationalist government withdraw such passports, Henley and Partners will be subject to action for substantial damages by their customers for lack of full disclosure.
Hear. Hear.
The PN can take a formal legal position to insist on Henley indemnifying Malta and the applicants in the event of all passports bought under this scheme being nullified/cancelled en bloc or on an individual basis.
And that is not to mention all the spill-over business they will be able to do from selling other services to clients that would otherwise not have come their way had they not had this exclusivity deal. Be it property sales, ship registrations, company incorporations, trusts, etc etc
Come 2023 or more hopefully 2018, a personal address at Kordin might be on the cards
Din tal-bejgh tac-cittadinanza mhix haga li nehduha hafif. Din serja l-iktar ghal dawn ir-ragunijiet, fost ohrajn.
1. Nitilfu l-kredibilta’ taghna li ghandna problema ta’ overcrowding minhabba l-emigranti. Dan meta ahna stess se nitkarbu biex mat- 300 persuna barranija kull sena jigu hawn.
2. Raguni wahda ghalfejn dawn in-nies li se jigu, u ahna mhux ha nkunu nafu minn huma, ma inghatatx. Din tat-thassib ta’ vera. Mhux bilfors tissuspetta? Imbaghad iktar u iktar meta Muscat qal f’Londra meta vara din l-iskema li din hija OPPORTUNITA biex persuni JERGHU ISIBU SAQAJHOM. Zgur li mhux fuq ton finanzjarju kienet dik, la dawn ghanhom daqshekk somom ta’ flus biex jixtru passaport.
3. L-istess kumpanija li se tisskrutinja dawn il-persuni hija l-istess kumpanija li se tiehu kummissjoni, hlas mhux zghir, ma kull applikazzjoni li taccetta. Jigifieri fl-interess finanzjarju taghha li jikkwalifikaw persuni kemm hu possibbli. Jistghu ikunu ittantati li jibdlu l-idenetita’ ta xi persuni?
4. Il-PL kien jaf x’se jaghmel minn qabel l-elezzjoni u ma’ dahhaliex fil-programm elettorali. Din wahedha turina li fil-principju jaf li kien se jkollu oggezzjonijiet qawwija minn kullimkien. Qed jaghmilha ghas-semplici raguni ghax ma’ jafx kif se jaqbad u jiffinanzja l-weghdiet kbar li ghamel.
Ghaldaqstant, x’inhu jistenna l-PN biex jorganizza konferenza stampa/protesta nazzjoniali halli jfihem u joggezzjona bil-qawwa ghal din il-ligi? On the quiet hemm hafna Laburisti li bejniethom qed juru t-thassib serju taghhom. Immaginaw ghal sekonda kieku ippropiha Gonzi din qabel l-elezzjoni.
Isn`t this equivalent to printing money?
[Daphne – No. It’s equivalent to striking oil, but with different, dangerous consequences and complicated ethical issues.]
I think that this is actually better than striking oil. An oil well can run dry. On the contrary, there is no limit to how many passports can be printed. To remain in energy terms, it’s more like nuclear fission. Still with dangerous consequences and complicated ethical issues.
No. It is equivalent to living on prostitution.
Plans to sell 300 Maltese passports a year. So much for due diligence.
They mean that they will most diligently and feverishly try to reach the target of 300 Malta Passports per annum, no holds barred, or perish in the attempt.
Henley & Partners estimate that the number of passports that will be issued under this scheme will be much higher than 300.
Why do the forecasts by government and the company differ to a significant extent?
Here’s a new take on the old joke.
A Tajikistani, a Georgian, and an Azeri are in a bar, celebrating Jum Il-Helsien…
We don’t need to worry about the scum of the planet flocking to Malta with its newly purchased passport ‘blofferta’.
From The Times: Owen Bonnici says that due diligence was so important that Malta would even be carrying out its own, over and above that of the international agency.
Yeah. Just like they did with Shiv Nair.
I’m sure they’ll donate a pound or two to the Partit Laburista come election time.
Joseph Muscat’s due diligence standard is such that he engaged a World-Bank-blacklisted Chinese company to carry out a study on the Gozo bridge, and also engaged a World-Bank-blacklisted friend as a consultant to his government.
Oh yes, and he also engaged somebody who is under investigation by the European Commission as his ‘health czar’.
Manwel Mallia will have to work overtime to be able to do a proper due diligence on all of these unless some shortcuts are taken.
He will subcontract these due diligence jobs to his clients on Cordin Educational Centre on the left hand side up the hill going into Paola.
If Henley & Partners intend to issue at least one passport per working day, then each due diligence must take no more than a day. That means several shortcuts must be taken.
With these sorts of profits Henley & Partners can finance Joey’s campaigns, singlehanded, and ensure that he will still be in the big seat like their puppet on a string.
Who even needs Henley? Joseph can very well finance his own campaigns now with the proceeds of his top-secret passport printing machine.
Ma niflahomx iktar.
I am pretty sure that a percentage of that Euro 28.8 million will find its way back into somebody’s pocket.
You mean somewhere at the Mile End.
Why can’t Maltese law firms do this job? I can think of one or two which are cognisant on anti money laundering, work checks and would be able to dismiss an application should the applicant trade or breach any principle of natural justice or Maltese statutory law. Why wasn’t this a public procurement matter ie tender application process’?
[Daphne – That’s hardly the point, is it. The job shouldn’t be done at all. You either object to the sale of passports, or you object to not being allowed a piece of the pie. The two cannot be reconciled. If you object to the sale of passports on principle but then say you want a cut….well, then.]
It is interesting to see how Joseph Muscat’s devious mind works. He appoints Godwin Grima as regulator of the Citizenship Scheme when Grima’s removal from head of the civil service was one of the very first public executions carried out by this government.
Grima has obviously been left to stew for the last 6 months, and by now he should have become tender and more compliant to the will of the new masters.
Grima is a prime choice, but only because Muscat needs to have some sort of Nationalist stamp on this scheme, knowing well enough that this is a post that Grima is unlikely to turn down.
Next, he proposes that the leader of the Opposition will form part of the committee that will monitor the scheme, knowing that Busuttil has opposed and condemned this scheme vociferously both in and out of parliament.
Busuttil went so far as to say that a Nationalist government will revoke those citizenships that have been acquired under this very scheme. Muscat actually knows that Busuttil may just about have an inch of spine, and if he does, he is unlikely, to accept this appointment. All so very convenient for Muscat.
This refusal will undoubtedly lead yet again to the leader of the Opposition being labelled as ‘negative’ and petulant, in the independent media, which has fast become dominated by Labour.
It also leaves Muscat, Mallia and a vacant Nationalist place on the committee that will oversee the scheme that they probably dreamt up together and which will line their pockets as well as those of Henley and Partners.
This Opposition seat will also ensure that, should Labour find itself in Opposition once again, it will still have a place on the committee that will be privy to the going-ons, should a future Nationalist government (led by someone other than Busuttil) choose to retain this scheme.
It’s all so smooth that not even Machiavelli himself could have come up with a scheme like this.
China’s “secret weapon,” and all his collaborators?
They’re overly smooth enough, with the experience of scams just like that.
Let’s not forget that more than intimidation happens behind the scenes.
Simon Busuttil must not sit on that Committee, and he should not appoint anyone.
But if he decides that someone should occupy that seat, then he should use Muscat’s tactics and appoint someone whose guts Muscat hates.
Norman Vella, maybe?
Mr. Major of Henley & Partners told the TVM 8.00pm news that there are already 60 applicants for the scheme, mostly from China.
This website has been indicating that this was the case all along.
The report said “sittin familja”.
You are right. Does anyone know how extended Chinese families can get?
Il-kunjati ta’ Konrad Mizzi jithajru tghid?
They must be desperate to give up being Chinese.
[Daphne – Come off it. Rational thinking again, please: We’re talking here, quite obviously, about individuals who are empowered by the Chinese dictatorship to hold two passports, because the second passport is going to be used for purposes in the service of the Chinese dictatorship. We are not talking about people who are going to give up being Chinese so as to become Maltese. If they have that much money, they have a vested stake in China and can’t give it up.]
The Chinese who can afford to buy non-Chinese passports won’t want or need to give up Chinese nationality.
It’s a myth, anyway, that Chinese always give up their Chinese nationality to pick up citizenship elsewhere. It doesn’t always happen, and certainly won’t in this case.
“If they have that much money, they have a vested stake in China and can’t give it up”
I disagree.
If the Chinese had that much money and the money was legitimate, they’d send their kids to US or Canadian colleges, wait a couple of years until the kids can become naturalised citizens, and then immigrate through the appropriate scheme.
Alternatively they would invest directly in the US or other countries that offer such schemes. The passport would be available after 5 years. The Chinese would not come to Malta.
It is what happened prior to the handing over of Hong Kong to China and is still happening now in various parts of the world.
It is what strongly suggests that the local citizenship scheme is either a scam or a condition by those who bankrolled MLP.
Something just doesn’t gel. Why are Joseph and Adward budgeting eur15/30 million from the sale of passports next year, while Henley will be getting eur28.8 million?
[Daphne – Because they are working on a lower figure of 60 passports.]
Because the lower figure of 60 passports is the one that matters to Muscat & co. They’re the ones who elevated him far beyond the limits of his competence and to whom he owes his position.
Unbelievably, he still thinks he’s in charge.
Is there someone on the take? I am sure the calculations were carefully worked out before the great push.
I must be missing something, but isn’t the government planning on pocketing 30 million from the scheme? Surely 300 passports should bring the government a lot more than the 30 million in commissions that Henley will be making.
You’re missing the fact that Muscat’s focus is the 60 already promised in a scheme designed especially for them. Anything else is a bonus.
I thought I was retiring in a sleepy backwater.
Turns out to be a hotbed of international intrigue.
The Government has no mandate to sell passports but Joseph Muscat thinks he can bulldoze his way through Parliament and impose what is probably the most unpopular law of the last several years.
We can fight back.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/1453530_527643583992916_1556002122_n.jpg
I will put my signature on that list on the first day it becomes accessible, but there are many risks, including the financial disadvantage that the PN has versus Labour. However, this disadvantage is likely to grow bigger at the next general elections unless something is done now.
Thinking about all this, one needs to consider now how the Constitutional Convention that Muscat is planning for next year will seek to consolidate the Labour dictatorship. The Dean of the Faculty of Law is likely to give Labour all the ‘legal opinions’ necessary to this end.
This is the worst government we have had for many decades. Labour must return to the opposition benches as soon as possible, and stay there.
How many passports does Joseph Muscat need to peddle off to buy himself an electoral quota for the next general elections?
The people who are going to buy passports won’t be able to vote as they won’t be living in Malta.
Not after the Constitutional Convention. They could be living on the moon, and they would be allowed to vote.
They will live in Malta, if they’re Chinese officials planted in government to keep an eye on their investment.
Coming up next: a newly-minted Maltese consultant to the OPM, born in China.
You read it here first.
Actually, it was in the manifest already:
“Naggornaw il-ligi elettorali biex il-Maltin li jghixu barra u li huma eligibbli ghall-vot ikunu jistghu jivvutaw f’dawk il-pajjizi minghajr ma jigu Malta biex jaghmlu dan.”
– Chapter 20, promise number 23, Page 173.
This promise is not dangerous by itself. But coupled with the Sale of Maltese Passports Scam and the granting of Maltese citizenship and identity to persons without an identity, it is EXTREMELY dangerous.
@ Ciccio. Especially if all other details necessary to link citizen to vote have been facilitated and signed prior to the handing over of the passport.
When the Chinese want to curse someone they augur that he will live in “interesting times”. And by Jove they are certainly making sure that we Maltese, from Prime Minster down, all will live in interesting times.
And you were worried about African migrants.
This scheme, by its nature, is bound to attract rogue characters. It has probably been designed with rogue characters and other suspect individuals in mind.
What could be better for China, Russia, North Korea, etc than to implant their spies, terrorists, etc in Malta with free access to all their European or American victims.
The Opposition must do what it can to stop this.
Meanwhile, whilst all of this nonsense goes on. Back in the real world Arriva have scrapped practically all of their night bus routes. As I found out to my cost (a taxi fare) tonight.
Why?
By selling Maltese citizenship in a secret way, Joseph Muscat and the Labour government are threatening the stability of Malta and that of the EU.
One of the reasons we voted for EU membership was to protect our democratic rights. This is going to be a test case for the EU and should be dealt with as soon as possible.
Is the government obliged to give an reply to a parliamentary question asking to list all the names of those who were granted citizenship under this scheme and how much money the government has profited?
This maybe the only way how to scrutinize this scheme. So once the scheme is approved, I suggest that Opposition MPs bombard Mallia with PQs.
There is one small consolation. Airport security can always doublecheck Chinese people travelling with a Maltese/European passport. No matter what change name they do, they will always be easily identified as non Maltese.
You’re being conservative. You’re discounting the fast track fees.
True. Those corruption fees must not be underestimated. And we have no way to confirm how much they can amount to. In one advert they said 50%, but how can we know if they can vary their percentage?
Instead of Switzerland in the Mediterranean, we’ve ended up with a Caribbean in the Med.
The reins of power in Malta are in the hands of `pimps, thieves and scoundrels` gorging themselves on the spoils of war.
300 in a yea, 1500 in 5 years- that is actually enough to significantly affect an election result.
This is possibly the first MAJOR test for both sides of the house. Let us hope they don’t let us all down.
How does this scheme benefit the Labour Party? They know it doesn’t benefit the country, so there is obviously something they’re not telling us.
Labour didn’t need the donations to get voted into power so why risk all this?
Why is a private firm doing this? Surely the government can process the applications at a lower cost than €100,000 per passport?
Din li bhala Maltin ma jriduniex inkunu nafu min sar Malti mhux biss hija insult imma TINTEN. Nisperaw m’hemmx xi hadd li ghen lil PL jitla fil-gvern b’din il-promessa. Nisperaw li mhux il-kaz.
Norman Lowell – and I keep mentioning him because he was one of the kingmakers in this election – gave us the detailed plan for killing or deporting all non-Europids in the coming Imperium. Except the Chinese.
Someone should ask him about this.
He will be an MEP candidate in 2014, so it’s the least we can expect from him. Especially when this is an issue that affects our European brothers too.
We need to join forces and get a petition going to ask for an abrogative referendum and revoke the law they are about to steam-roll in parliament.
It’s the only way we can protect our country from these mercenaries and those who are pimping our nationality to achieve their devious ends.
This is a call to arms…is there someone out there who has the legal know-how of how to go about this. We need to do this NOW.
This is becoming evidently similar to an indecent proposal with a twist. Someone who wants to corrupt a poor innocent person who is in need of hard cash does exactly the same. Except that in this case, the custodian is the one who is proposing this opportunity to unknown persons.
There was a similar case on Rai News yesterday where an Italian mother was caught by the police on her mobile phone ordering her under-age daughter to work harder to bring more money to “finance her studies”.
“The receptivity of the masses is very limited, their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous. In consequence of these facts, all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the public understands what you want him to understand by your slogan.”
– Hitler
Joseph Muscat and his ‘tim’ seem to have taken that advice well on board.
Finally, Astrid seems to have found her megaphone once again:
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-11-09/news/environment-groups-plan-protest-in-valletta-3137667072/
Tghid ghandhom performance bonus ukoll, Joseph u Manwel?
Or maybe they have profit sharing?
Could someone please ask Henley and Partners, the brokers of our citizenship, whether they are informing their clients of the PN’s statement that it will publish the names of those who bought passports and that these passports will be revoked?
If they are not doing so, they are withholding crucial information from their clients.
Is anonymity a way of protecting those who buy passports or protecting those who sell the passports?