The Hudson Institute’s Kleptocracy Initiative publishes piece about Malta selling citizenship

The Kleptocracy Initiative at the Hudson Institute in Washington published a piece three days ago about how Malta sells its citizenship as a doorway to the European Union. It’s called Europe’s Citizenship Scam.

The text won’t tell you anything you don’t know already, but you should listen to its podcast interview with Harry Cooper, a journalist who works for Politico Europe.

He highlights the fact that nobody knows where the millions of euros raised from selling Maltese citizenship are actually held or by whom, and that there is good reason to suspect that a slush fund is being created for the purpose of “buying votes” at the general election. He also points out that the Opposition (Nationalist) party has not committed itself to ending the scheme when in office.

There’s also a reminder of a “huge scandal” which the Opposition and the media have allowed people to forget: the Schengen visas which Malta sold to 7,000 Algerians in just 18 months, through a specially set up consulate in Algiers run by a cousin of Prime Minister Muscat. Those Algerians never came to Malta but flew through the island’s airport in transit to the rest of Europe.

“My boyfriend can get you a good discount on a European Union passport, but you’ll have to pay for Maltese citizenship first. Let me know if you’re interested, and I’ll talk to him about it.”