So do many thousands of expats who would never be given Maltese citizenship in a thousand years.

“There could be many reasons why the company is registered in the wife’s name”

Clearly, the most obvious one has not occurred to you: she owns it. It’s her company and her business.

So Maltese…

If the husband’s business is related to government in any way or he is the recipient of government contracts or tenders, then he has to avoid owning or having any kind of shares in any foreign company, particularly a European one.

In Russia there is a law that clearly excludes Russians who have foreign business interests to participate in tenders or be awarded government work. This obviously is used against those who do not support Putin and also to decrease the huge amount of cash that is exiting the country.

One way of getting around this, is to set up a business run by the wife so that the husband can continue his business in Russia unhindered. In many cases the foreign companies and businesses are just a screen used to launder the money coming from Russia.