Maltese golden passport scheme loses 73 agents since 2013

Malta’s Individual Investor Programme has lost some 73 of its agents out of a list of 200 firms and approved agents selling citizenship to the ultra-rich.

Of those 73, only four practitioners have had their license outright suspended by the IIP agency: these include two licences held by the legal firm Chetcuti Cauchi, a licence held by former Labour Party treasurer and auditor Joe Sammut on behalf of Micallef Stafrace & Sammut, and more recently the licence held by Karl Cini on behalf of BT International, part of the Nexia BT group.

Chetcuti Cauchi Advisors, reportedly one of the most successful of agents and the first to be granted authorisation to sell Maltese citizenship, had their licences suspended over footage from a French news reveal that claimed to show the company’s representatives boasting of influence with the Prime Minister and the parliamentary secretary for citizenship.

Since then, the raw footage obtained by Chetcuti Cauchi in a French court case has revealed that the editing of the broadcast was a misleading picture of the actual conversation.

On the other hand, Joe Sammut saw his licence revoked after he was arraigned on charges relating to money laundering, fraud, misappropriation, forgery and non-observance of due diligence after aiding Libyan nationals to obtain a residency permit through the creation of fake companies. This put Malta’s cash-for-passports programme in the spotlight at the European level, with MEPs demanding an investigation into the IIP over security concerns.

More recently, BT International had their license suspended in the wake of a police investigation into parent company Nexia BT, which fell victim to a wide-ranging freezing order when lead partner Brian Tonna was arrested over allegations of a kickback to Keith Schembri on the sale of citizenship.

Apart from these high-level cases, an overwhelming majority of licences were dropped either due to missing administrative information or because the practitioner lost interest. Lawyer George Hyzler gave up his IIP licence following his appointment as Standards Commissioner, and Lydia Abela, wife of Robert Abela, dropped her licence after her husband was appointed Prime Minister last January.

Last July, the government announced that Malta’s cash for passports programme will soon be replaced by a new residency scheme with higher investment requirements and a mandatory €10,000 donation to a registered philanthropic organisation.

Under the new scheme, a foreigner looking to buy Maltese citizenship would only be able to apply one year after first obtaining a residency permit. Applicants will have to fulfil a one-year residency period before filing for citizenship.

But the European Commission had asked the Maltese government asking for the IIP to be phased out over money-laundering and corruption risks; but the Maltese government is still keen on retaining the programme due to the source of revenue it provides.