What the Sunday papers say…

Malta Today reveals that a total of 140 foreign nationals, from 25 different countries, have already been processed for naturalization as Maltese citizens under the Individual Investor Programme (IIP). The majority of these (100) were represented by Henley and Partners, the concessionaire and originator of the scheme, whilst the rest were promoted by other licensed representatives.

This newspaper also reports that easier MFSA regulations have made it easier for companies and PLCs not to include their historic financial statements when issuing bond prospectuses. Retail clients who spoke with this newspaper said that company’s previous years’ figures may now be only “Illustrative” and “hypothetical”.

Sunday paper Illum carries out an interview with Justice Minister Owen Bonnici in which he suggests that George Farrugia, the man given a presidential pardon to reveal truths in the Enemalta oil scandal case, may not be divulging as much information as he should. “The information which George Farrugia presented is important but I suspect he may not have said everything,” Bonnici said. If indeed Farrugia is found to be withholding any information, his pardon may overturned.

The Sunday Times reports that Hollywood celebrity couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are set to film in Gozo this summer. The couple were spotted in Gozo earlier this week and it would now seem that Mgarr ix-Xini has been chosen as one of the locations for the multi-million euro film. Maltese company Pellikola, which was involved in the environmental disaster at Dwejra in Gozo four years ago during the filming of TV series Game of Thrones, expected to be involved too.

The Malta Independent on Sunday leads with the World Cup blood donation which took place yesterday which gathered hundreds of people to the National Blood Bank to donate blood. President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca was also present.

It-Torca gets the reaction from former Labour minister Joe Grima in the aftermath of the controversy surrounding a report published by Aditus on the inclusion of third-world nationals in Malta. The report prompted an attack by Grima on his Facebook account, referring to Aditus as a “cultural rapist”. This, in turn, led Aditus coordinator to write a letter to the PM demanding an apology. However, Grima remained defiant in his comments to the newspaper, claiming that he had the right to his opinion.

Nationalist organ Il-Mument claims that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s friendship with former Libyan PM Ali Zeidan is a justifiable enough reason to suspect that either Zeidan or persons politically close to him may have fled to Malta and are being protected by government.

Kullhadd reports that veteran Nationalist MPs Tonio Fenech and George Pullicino may not be allowed to run for the next general election by the party hierarchy on the grounds that they represent the PN of the past.