Maltese MEP Calls For Ban On Citizenship Sale In Wake Of French Undercover Sting
Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola has called for the Individual Investor Programme to be banned in the wake of an undercover sting operation by a French TV programme into one of the programme’s legal agents.
“Everything we warned about with the sale of Maltese and EU citizenship with no genuine link to Malta is happening,” Metsola tweeted. “This is not the face our nation should be showing to the world. End this monetisation of basic rights and corruption loophole now. Time for a ban on passport sales.”
Everything we warned about with the sale of Maltese & EU citizenship with no genuine link to #Malta is happening. This is not the face our nation should be showing to the world.
End this monetization of basic rights & corruption loophole now. Time for a ban on passport sales https://t.co/oMGpSy0sRR
— Roberta Metsola MEP (@RobertaMetsola) September 23, 2019
French TV programme Enquête Exclusive yesterday published a programme about Malta, which includes an undercover operation into the Valletta offices of Chetcuti Cauchi Advocates, one of several Maltese law firms acting as agents for the IIP.
The journalist posed as the legal representative of African clients who were interested in purchasing Maltese citizenship and met up with an unnamed lawyer, whose face was blurred out. The lawyer could be heard boasting about his connections, including that he is childhood friends with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and that his wife is childhood friends with parliamentary secretary for reforms and citizenship Julia Farrugia Portelli.
At one point in the conversation, the journalist tested the lawyer by warning that one of his ‘clients’ interested in purchasing Maltese citizenship may have a criminal record.
The lawyer responded that the authorities can reject applications without giving a reason but they can also “close an eye” and that he could alter provide them with further information that would benefit the client.
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