Financial practitioners are objecting to how the Government is planning a scheme to sell citizenship to wealthy individuals, fearing they will be pushed out of business.

Times of Malta is informed that a meeting on Thursday for financial services practitioners organised by Identity Malta – the new government agency behind the scheme – turned into a shouting match.

During the meeting, financial practitioners demanded a revision of the scheme – known as the Individual Investor Programme – and Identity Malta chairman Joe Vella Bonnici objected to the criticism and called some of those present “rude”, asking them to leave.

Contacted yesterday, Mr Vella Bonnici confirmed things got rowdy at times and accused some of the practitioners of “trying to ridicule the meeting”.

Although Henley & Partners said they were not competing with us, everyone has to be their agent. Weare not that dumb

He dismissed suggestions that the new programme concessionaires – Henley & Partners – had a serious conflict of interest or would be competing with Maltese financial service players for the same work.

“This is not true as we are trying to work with them [financial services practitioners] and not against them,” Mr Vella Bonnici insisted.

The Home Affairs Ministry, through Identity Malta, awarded an exclusive concession to Henley & Partners, an international firm that already does this type of work in other jurisdictions, to sell Maltese citizenship and eventual EU freedom of movement for €650,000 each.

The company, which was registered last month and has set up shop in St Julian’s, will be responsible for receiving, processing and making recommendations to Identity Malta.

It will be up to the government agency to decide whether to grant citizenship.

All Maltese practitioners will have to act as Henley & Partners agents to have their applications processed.

Those who market the programme without the approval of Henley & Partners will be exposing themselves to a fine of €20,000.

Maltese financial practitioners are objecting to the whole set-up.

“All we want is a level playing field and the Government does not want to listen,” a financial services lawyer complained.

“Henley & Partners have been given all the work and we have to submit our applications to this foreign company. So what’s the use of clients coming to us when they can go directly to Henley & Partners?”

An accountant added: “Although Henley & Partners said they were not competing with us, everyone has to be their agent. We are not that dumb.”

Apart from selling citizenship to wealthy foreigners, the company’s office in Malta is already marketing other services, in direct competition with the local financial services industry.

According to its website, www.henleyglobal.com, the company also caters for residency permits, ship and yacht registration, taxation, corporate services and real estate.

“We cannot accept a situation where this foreign company is being given a free hand to override all that we have built for the past years,” the CEO of one of Malta’s financial services providers said. “We hope the Government changes its position.”

Times of Malta is informed that objections by various practitioners have already reached the Home Affairs Ministry.

However, it does not seem the Government is contemplating any changes as it hurries to introduce the scheme.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is scheduled to roll out the scheme in a London hotel on October 31 and has planned another launch in Miami a few weeks later, this newspaper is informed.

Sources said the Government was planning to start selling citizenship in February and is expecting to cash in some €30 million in the first year.