“Malta’s citizenship scheme is the only one on earth which is managed by a private-sector concessionaire”

I’d missed this story in The Malta Independent last Monday:

Malta’s citizenship scheme is the only one on earth in which the programme is managed by a private sector concessionaire – yet this role had been envisioned before this concessionaire was identified.

The Malta Independent has filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act to find out just that, asking for a list of entities and/or individuals who advised the government on citizenship programmes prior to the issuing of a call for expressions of interest on June 21, which led to the signing of a contract – which is being kept secret, save for a small extract – with Henley & Partners.

(…)

I think it’s quite obvious at this stage that the answer to everything – from Muscat’s refusal to back down, to the haste and the secrecy, to the denial of requests to publish the contract with Henley & Partners – lies in the personal not government machinations which brought the matter to fruition.

You know what they always say: follow the money.

I’ve thought from the outset that Edward Zammit Lewis’s presence at anything to do with this scheme is more than a little odd. His portfolio is totally unrelated to it, and even if it were related, it is his boss – Minister Chris Cardona – who should be ‘fronting’ it, not his office junior.

I think we should be looking a lot more closely for his possible connection to whatever it is that brought this thing into being.