Comments on: It’s too late already: the damage to Malta’s reputation has begun to snowball. Now Maltese passports are being advertised on a Pakistani website.

By: We are living in Financial Times

We are living in Financial Times — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 11:39:45 +0000

In reply to Crockett. In the past they have turned their attention and sent representatives over for less...

By: Tabatha White

Tabatha White — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 11:37:57 +0000

In reply to Antoine Vella. I would also say that in those parts of the world where bargaining a price is more common, €70,000 would have been too much of a hefty figure to herald upfront: The client may have thought twice and double-checked to see if there was a middleman he could skip.

By: PD

PD — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 06:24:00 +0000

In reply to Alex.

Agree. My colleague’s reaction when I mentioned this scheme to him was “so is Malta targeting all the Russian oligarchs and other baddies? doesn’t the EU object to any of this?”

Another Taiwanese colleague of mine burst out laughing, adding “So is Malta short of money? This is the last thing you want to do, isn’t it?”

By: Dissident

Dissident — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 23:42:50 +0000

Nigeria will follow

By: Kevin

Kevin — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 20:06:29 +0000

In reply to ray. What do you expect? They're thinking that a revision on the visa waiver scheme needs to be revised. With Pakistan officially in the loop and with full confidentiality guaranteed, what is stopping Al Qaeda from buying a few passports. It is significantly better to have a legal document than a forged one.

By: pocoyo

pocoyo — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 19:57:15 +0000

In reply to gigi. Selling the family jewels

By: p

Mon, 04 Nov 2013 19:15:31 +0000

To think what we went through in order to acquire EU membership – the endless negotiations, the shameful, despair-inducing freeze in 1996, the renewed attempt in 1998, against all odds the unprecedented, stupendous triumph in 2004, the acquisition of gradually increasing respect and status in the years that followed …only to be reduced to pimping all we have achieved to anyone who can stump up the cash.

By: gigi

gigi — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 18:14:29 +0000

Finance minister Edward Scicluna said lately “We will not sell the family silver” – but that is exactly what they are doing.

By: ray

ray — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 17:38:20 +0000

I wonder what the Americans are thinking.

By: Snoopy

Snoopy — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 17:10:27 +0000

So Jabba the Hut wants to spy on asylum seekers and refugees in Malta just in case they are terrorists who will murder us all in our beds, but selling our passports to possible would-be terrorists is fine, because they will be carrying out really strict due diligence just as they did with blacklisted Shiv Nair.

Utterly unbelievable and this just shows what a bunch of amateurs and thieves those switchers have given us.