Muscat at Henley roadshow, PN demands full IIP contract once again

The Nationalist Party has demanded the full publication of the government contract’s with citizenship experts Henley & Partners, the concessionaires of Malta’s Individual Investor Programme.

The PN was reacting to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s latest address to an audience for a Henley roadshow, promoting Malta’s sale of passports for €650,000 in Zurich.

“It’s customary now for the prime minister to leave Malta and take party in a Henley roadshow: what is the reason for his regular participation? The people want a transparent prime minister who does not hide from them, and instead of taking part in these roadshows, Muscat should publish the full contract of the Henley concession,” the PN said.

A redacted version of the IIP contract tabled in the House of Representatives shows that the Maltese government is obliged provide its top brass to promote the IIP. It is through this contract that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has been bound to promote the IIP at Henley’s regular roadshows around the world.

As stated in Article 7.4, it is at the concessionaire’s own discretion that from time to time it organises, at its own cost and expense, conferences and events to professionally promote the IIP worldwide.

“The government will ensure to send, whenever requested by the concessionaire, appropriate high-ranking government representatives, or other senior government officials, to speak at the events and represent the Programme and the government.

“The government shall also use reasonable endeavours to arrange that one or several of its investment promotion agencies shall participate in those events as partner, sponsors, or by providing further specialised speaker of the event programmes.”
The contract was published with some sensitive clauses blacked out, 16 months after news of the IIP came out in November 2013. The Opposition has objected to the blacking out of the clauses.

In a statement today, the PN said that the monitoring committee for the IIP, which includes the Prime Minister and the Opposition leader, has only met once in October 2014.

Since the introduction of the IIP, the government has not yet published the full list of new citizens in the government gazette as it is bound by law.

Home affairs minister Carmelo Abela told Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi in parliament that he was mindful of government’s obligation at law but that he could not specify the time when they will be published.

The first list of naturalised citizens, which will include holders of the IIP passport can be expected in 2015, since the IIP started in 2014 and applicants are granted citizenship after 12 months of residency.

The list will not make any distinction between naturalised citizens, and those who have paid for their passport.