The Opposition might, in future, publish the “secret” list of people who buy Maltese citizenship after obtaining the names through the scheme’s monitoring committee.

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said that, if the Opposition decided to participate in the monitoring committee, he did not rule out “getting the list and publishing it”, given that Government wanted to keep it secret.

Dr Busuttil was speaking to members of the media yesterday afternoon outside Parliament shortly after amendments to the Citizenship Act, which introduces the citizenship scheme, were approved at Committee stage.

The amendments will allow the setting up of the Individual Investor Programme, in which Maltese citizenship will be granted to foreigners against a fee.

Eligible candidates will have to pay €650,000 and €25,000 for their spouses and children.

The Opposition voted against the amendments as proposed. Dr Busuttil said it would continue opposing the scheme and vote against it during the third and final reading on Tuesday.

Dr Busuttil said it was disappointing that the Government did not “budge an inch” and steamrolled over the Opposition by throwing out all proposed amendments aimed at improving the scheme and making it more transparent.

This Opposition does not want to be in the same bed as the Government in this act prostituting Maltese citizenship

These included the publication of the names of those who obtained citizenship, adding a minimum residency of five years to be eligible and binding the granting of citizenship to investment rather than just a donation.

Dr Busuttil said the Government had further insulted the Opposition by including it as part of a monitoring committee to oversee the scheme that will be regulated by the former head of civil service Godwin Grima.

“How can we monitor a scheme we do not agree with in principle?” he said, adding the Opposition had not yet taken a final decision on whether to participate in the scheme’s monitoring committee.

Dr Busuttil also said that if elected to government, the Nationalist Party would remove or change the scheme and, possibly, withdraw citizenship that had been granted.

He said he would not refund the money since that was a “donation.”

During yesterday’s parliamentary sitting Dr Busuttil twice appealed to the Government to reach a consensus.

When debating Clause 8, he said this was a “red line” as the amendment moved by the PN “turned secrecy into transparency”. He declared that, should he become Prime Minister, he would publish the list of those who bought Maltese passports.

How can we monitor a scheme we do not agree with in principle?- Simon Busuttil

The Opposition also voted against the establishment of a regulator to oversee the workings of the programme, have access to all information and draw up an annual report for Parliament, and against a Government amendment to appoint a monitoring board with the Leader of the Opposition as one of its members.

PN deputy leader Mario de Marco said that although the Bill stated there would be consultation with the Leader of the Opposition before the appointment of a regulator, local media had reported that on Friday Dr Muscat nominated Godwin Grima for the role.

He added that although Dr Grima might be the best person for the job, the fact remained there had been no consultation.

Home Affairs Minister Emanuel Mallia pointed out that Dr Muscat had not nominated Dr Grima, but said he was prepared to propose Dr Grima subject to the Opposition’s approval.

Dr de Marco said that the Opposition had given the Government every opportunity to have a genuine discussion to come up with a transparent scheme reflecting the integrity of the country, but the Government chose to ignore every opportunity to do so.

“No regulator, no monitoring board would change this programme,” he said.

“This Opposition does not want to be in the same bed as the Government in this act prostituting Maltese citizenship.”

When Opposition home affairs spokesman Jason Azzopardi asked whether the Government found it acceptable that Maltese people would not be informed who had acquired citizenship, Dr Mallia said this was not the first law to grant such powers of secrecy.

Legislation passed under the PN had offered something similar, he said.

Dr Mallia insisted that there were enough safeguards in place, and the Opposition was simply spinning the matter.

Asked by Opposition finance spokes­man Tonio Fenech if the Government would give information to foreign authorities if requested, Dr Mallia said Malta would have to abide by the obligations of certain treaties.

Dr Busuttil said it appeared the Government was prepared to give information to other countries, but not to its citizens.

He said he was not asking government to breach international treaties, but to be honest and transparent with the Maltese people.

In a statement yesterday the Government said the Opposition confirmed the destructive and negative tendency it was taking under Dr Busuttil’s leadership.

Additional reporting by parliamentary staff.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.