Sale Kbir Fuq il-Passaporti Maltin: on Bloomberg magazine
Published:
June 11, 2014 at 2:28am
The Maltese passport with the yellow ‘sale’ sticker dominates page 46 of Bloomberg magazine in the link below.
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http://gb.zinio.com/reader.jsp?issue=416304672&WT.mc_id=PUB_COM_DISC_GLOBAL_052214_PursuitsSummer14&o=ext
It seems that with only 100 applications approved so far I would say that the billion euros much hyped about by JM through his mediatic circuses are much far away. Only a 100 million so far. Let it be known that last year foreign investment tanked by 300 million euros.
I heard that the figure is actually 120.
Why have the other 20 disappeared from the books?
Were they granted before the legislation was passed?
Henley state that they have processed 100 applicants – Henley would in no way underestimate their own ‘success’ – perhaps the additional 20 were direct applicants via the Govt of Malta bypassing the exclusive agreement with Henley and the duty of care to the people of Malta
And where would the money from those extra 20 passports end up ?
Even then, those 120 are passport applications, not number of new passport applicants. Each application includes spouse, children, in-laws and dependents, which would easily give us a figure of 500 or so new Maltese citizens.
I’ve been told the Saudi and Uzbek applicants have especially large families. Note that the Saudis have multiple wives.
How does that work, exactly? Saudis may have multiple wives, but polygamy is not recognised under Maltese law. Wouldn’t that make additional wives primary applicants, rather than spouses? Or is Muscat’s government being screwed by its own scheme?
Multiple marriages contracted in jurisdictions which recognise multiple marriages are in fact recognised in Malta. In any case, the Sale of Passports law defines ‘spouse’ using the definition of the jurisdiction in question. If it is Saudi Arabia then multiple spouses are recognised.
Just for the sake of example (and for the love of god let us not go off on a tangent), Malta recognised same-sex spouses from other jurisdictions long before it introduced gay marriage.
Back to Saudi Arabia. The more, the merrier.
(Surely, “the Manuel”? Ed.)
I think that given the nature of Muscat’s strategies, he would not hesitate one second to sell a couple of passports on the side completely bypassing the (mysterious) agreements with Henley, were he to be personally approached.
When other EU countries saw Malta break an unwritten and obvious rule Bulgaria undercut us by €500,000 odd. Had Malta never started the race to the bottom, Bulgaria would never have done this.
The 100 in just 12 weeks. There are 4 more YEARS to go !
Not for you, if you persist in your apopletic attitude to anyt criticism of the MLP.
Kellhom ghalfejn jiehduha bi kbira meta Lawrence Gonzi qal li taht il-Labour tisthi li tkun Malti!
U l-maggoranza kbira tal-votanti qalu li huma kuntenti u kburin bi gvern laburista !!!!!
The truth is that those who voted for PL did so as they were either promised something in return or taken for ride by the world champion of liars Muscat.
Buy a Maltese passport, where quality costs less.
Maybe Joseph Muscat can strike a deal with Lidl to sell them to visitors on a visa all over Europe.
It’s an article planted by Henley and Partners. Christian H. Kalin is quoted in every country profile. He says that “Austria is by far the best passport”. Which means Malta’s isn’t.
Malta’s profile says, once again, that the principal fee is paid into a development fund. So where’s the money going right now? There’s no national development fund.
Sticky Fingers?
So you are saying that we should up our “product” to be like Austria’s, but offer it for sale anyway?
I don’t agree we should sell our citizenship, at whatever price and whatever offering it may propose.
Or whatever funds it may attract.
So were the 100 applicants all single ?
Passports, passports, buy one get one free, sale now on, buy one get one free, passports, passports……….
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140611/local/blacklisted-company-files-judicial-protest-against-the-government.522950
I think this has more to do with those 70 cleaners employed lately than with precarious jobs. There are plenty of security companies and cleaning services who pay the same wage. Those of them working with the government have ties with GWU and the Labour Party. It all depends if Clentec’s staff will be replaced by newbie cleaners directly employed with the public sector.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140511/local/70-cleaners-recruited-on-eve-of-election.518476
Will we ever find out who they are and what sort of contract was signed by our government and Henley and something?
I seriously doubt that. If Muscat has nothing to hide, then he should publish the said contract without any delay. Since it incorporates also the ‘billions’ of euros he is going to attract to Malta, one would also say that this contract could become his battle cry for the next elections. Yet, he refuses to do so. And that makes it suspicious.
I honestly believe that this contract with Henley & Something includes in it also a ‘fair share’ to the PL’s coffers. Maybe purchase of votes? Henley & Partners have already been accused of ‘buying elections’ in outer Island-states.
If, and only if, Muscat will have the decency to publish the contract, he will definitely not publish it in its entirety. He needs to cover his back-side.
Not decency, democratic obligation.
“Technically you must live [in Malta] for a year. In practice the requirement is far more flexible.”
Yep even a gym membership is enough (never heard a rebuttal on this): http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-05-07/news/even-a-gym-membership-may-qualify-for-maltese-citizenship-claim-4888657920/
Ladies, Gentlemen and others guess what’s in the pipeline : Special offer ”Molties” passports buy 2 and get 1 free until stocks last and of course certain terms apply.
It was 50 applicants with commitments of EUR 100 million including property, stocks and shares apart from the 650K passport price.
I hate to be a wet blanket and let me make it clear that sale of Maltese citizenship is a great blow to my pride but, unfortunately for us, during the MEP elections the electorate gave Joseph Muscat the green light; the results overrode the justified claim many of us made that this issue was not mentioned in the PL electoral programme. We have reached the bottom indeed and the way up seems very bleak.
Bloomberg has done just what Muscat wanted. Give free publicity to the Maltese citizenship scheme. He has the EU blessing you know…..
He first announced the scheme in a Bloomberg publication called Businessweek. He gave an interview to the publication when he was in Dalian, China, at the invitation of the Chinese government.
In the same week – 10th September, to be exact – Identity Malta, Manwel Mallia’s super-agency, was created by stealth with a legal notice published in the government gazette. muscat’s interview was published a month later, but the news was deliberately kept out of the limelight in Malta.
Then the story broke, and it was picked up around the world, and the rest is history.