WATCH: Standards Commissioner Asked To Investigate Maltese Junior Minister’s Promotional Video For Suspended Passport Seller
Activist group Repubblika have asked Commissioner for Standards George Hyzler to investigate a promotional video by a suspended passport seller starring Parliamentary Secretary Julia Farrugia Portelli, Castille, and the Individual Investor Programme’s (IIP) CEO.
The video, first revealed by Lovin Malta, shows Chetcuti Cauchi Advocates using leading government figures and a historic auberge to promote their citizenship flogging initiative, even though they supposedly have “no relationship whatsoever” with Farrugia Portelli.
Shot throughout the iconic halls of the Prime Minister’s office and base of operations, Farrugia Portelli kicks off Chetcuti Cauchi Advocates’ advert by espousing how the IIP program “created an economic niche” in the country.
“This advertising footage which was exclusively shot in one of the main halls of the Office of the Prime Minister and which is being shared on social media, aims at granting publicity to the services provided by legal firm Chetcuti Cauchi, a private firm directed by lawyer Jean-Philippe Chetcuti.”
“The footage also misused public resources. Castille was used as the main backdrop for the video, giving the impression that the private legal firm was being granted an unfair advantage over its competitors,” Repubblika wrote.
Chetcuti Cauchi Advocates is at the centre of a scandal involving a French TV show’s undercover footage, which shows lawyers boasting about their ministerial connections, namely with Farrugia Portelli and Joseph Muscat, and how authorities would “close an eye” to buyers with a criminal record.
READ NEXT: School Bus Buddies? Photos Expose Much Closer Relationship Between Prime Minister And Suspended Passport Seller