Updated | ‘Citizenship is priceless’ - Simon Busuttil

The Opposition leader Simon Busuttil today said the PN would pull out all stops to prevent the country from selling citizenships cheaply and called on the government to publish the full contract with concessionaire Henley & Partners, who have been exclusively contracted to promote government's 'citizenship by investment' scheme.

Busuttil said the government's haste and the proposed scheme's lack of transparency "stinks" and warned that the opposition would never vote for a scheme which does not require applicants to reside and invest money in Malta.  

"In life, some things cannot be purchased, among them our citizenship. The Maltese citizenship does not have a price and is not for sale. The Nationalist Party is against the proposed law because we believe that our citizenship should never be sold. This is not an investment programme but a citizenship for sale scheme, This is unacceptable."

"I fear that the government is introducing this scheme in such haste to make a quick buck that it cannot understand the value of our citizenship. Citizenship in invaluable," he said, adding that citizenship is priceless because there is a long-lasting link, genetic, historic, emotional and physical, between the country and the individual.

Citizenship is also an act of love and pride, Busuttil added, pointing out that the government could not understand the notion of a nation which goes beyond the collective presence of persons, but defines the history of a people.

Claiming that the Labour government was selling citizenship "at a discounted rate," Busuttil said that the scheme disrespected the persons who toiled hard to create the Maltese nation, including former prime ministers Dom Mintoff, Gorg Borg Olivier and Eddie Fenech Adami.

He also accused the government of putting sovereignty up for sale by allowing a private company, Henley & Partners, to process applications. Moreover, he said that it was "deeply ironic that Labour is now selling an EU passport after vehemently opposing membership."

Addressing the empty government benches, bar five MPs, he pointed out that the government arrogantly snubbed the discussion because it thought that it "can bulldoze over everyone thanks to its nine seat majority."

Busuttil added that the Opposition was prepared to discuss amendments to the scheme, however the government had shut its doors and did not show any willingness to discuss it.  

Listing the reasons why the opposition was against the scheme, Busuttil said that the scheme was unique in Europe and was analogous to that of tax havens in the Caribbean. Yet, even these countries did not go as far as allowing a private company to process applications, Busuttil noted.

Echoing the Chamber of Advocates' statement issued today, Busuttil warned the home affairs minister that the scheme would cause "serious and irreparable damage to Malta's reputation."

He added that the scheme would also leave serious repercussions with Malta's relationships with EU member states and the US, given that the scheme would grant the right to possible shady applicants to travel to the US without a Visa.

"If this right, which we worked so hard to achieve, is revoked by the US you will only have yourself to blame," the PN leader told home affairs minister Manuel Mallia.   

Reiterating the opposition's criticism in recent weeks, Busuttil said that the PN would only accept a programme which required applicants to have a long-term link to the country, through residence and investment.  

The opposition leader added that the government should insert a quota, and only allow a small number of applications every year, to avoid giving the impression that the country is desperate.

He also hit out at the "shameful" decision to allow Henley & Partners to receive, assess and recommend applications.

"Can you stoop any lower, minister Mallia to dispose of our passport? It is excruciatingly painful to allow a private company to sell our citizenship."

Busuttil also warned that the scheme granted the minister too much power to the minister, which could lead to abuse and corruption. Moreover, the lack of transparency "shed more doubts on the scheme," he said.

"The scheme symbolises the government's haste to sell whatever it can at whatever price," the opposition leader said, adding that the PN was against the scheme because "it stinks"  

The opposition, he said would demand the third treading of the law to take place in the House in order for all MPs to evaluate and analyse the law in detail. 

He also slammed Prime Minister Joseph Muscsat plans to travel to Miami where he will promote the IIP together with representatives from St Kitts & Nevis, Antigua, and the Dominican Republic, all countries that also have their own naturalisation schemes. "It's shameful that the Prime Minister has already planned a visit in Miami before the law is even approved."

He called on government to seek cross-party consensus, however he warned that "if no consensus is found, we will not exclude anything and if we are in government we are prepared to retrieve the scheme and passports issued by this government"

Following Busuttil's speech, PN deputy leader for party affairs Beppe Fenech Adami extended the Opposition's invitation to "sit down around a table and discuss amendments to the law.

While saying that the Opposition was prepared to work together with the government to strenghten the country's financial services sector and attract long-term investment which creates jobs, Fenech Adami called on the government to stop "pigging out if it intends to cut its expenditure."

His comments did not go down well with the government MPs present and Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who had just arrived in Parliament, retorted by claiming that Fenech Adami was among the culprits in the waste of resources under the previous administration for accepting the role of Parliamentary Assistant.

To this, Fenech Adami said, "I can assure the Prime Minister that in three years as Parliamentary Assistant I did not earn as much as energy minister Konrad Mizzi's wife earns in one month in her consultancy role at Malta Enterprise."

In his address to the House, Parliamentary Secretary Edward Zammit Lewis accused the Opposition leader of being arrogant and incorrect in stating that citizenship can be revoked by a future government. Zammit Lewis noted that Chapter 188 of the Maltese Law stipulates that citizenships could only be revoked if "the registration or certificate of naturalisation was obtained by means of fraud, false representation or the concealment of any material fact."

In reaction to Busuttil's speech, the government dubbed his address as one of the most negative speeches in Parliamentary history.

"Busuttil might believe that he is damaging the government but he is only damaging the country," the statement said.

The government also accused the leader of the opposition of contradicting himself in saying that he opposed the scheme in principle but would still table amendments.

The government added that it would let "the opposition drown in its negativity while focusing on the creation of wealth and its just distribution."  

This evening, the PN also called on the government to publish the full contract with concessionaire Henley & Partners, who have been exclusively contracted to promote government's citizenship by investment'scheme after the government published extracts of the contract.

The IIP (Individual Investment Programme) will sell Maltese citizenship to applicants and their dependants for €650,000, but Nationalist MP  Jason Azzopardi this week claimed that Henley will be receiving €140,000 for each application. Home affairs minister Manuel Mallia has denied the sum.

Tonight, the Nationalist Party once again asked the government to come clear on whether Henley & Partners were to be given commission besides the contribution option and if this would include payment for due diligence.

The Opposition urged the government to publish the contract in full "in the sake of transparency," and asked what does the contract state about the fast track option for clients who were willing to pay an additional 50%.

"Before the contract is published in full, the people would not know whether Henley & Partners would be earning additional payments from those applying for citizenship, even more so in view of the fact that the government was giving this foreign company an absolute monopoly on the sale of Maltese passports"