The Opposition has formally warned applicants for Maltese passports that it regards the Citizenship scheme as having an expiry date up to the time when the Nationalist Party is returned to government, at which point all sales would be revoked.

In a judicial protest filed this morning, all Opposition MPs said they were formally calling upon the government, Henley and Partners and Identity Malta to inform all those buying Maltese citizenship that this constituted only a temporary sale with a definite expiry date up to the time when the Opposition was returned to government.

This warning was being made in line with the legal principle of caveat emptor - beware of what you are buying. .

The Opposition pointed out how it had voted against the scheme in parliament and was challenging the validity of the regulations that governed it. Furthermore, the European Parliament had voted overwhelmingly against the sale of citizenship, and the European Commission was considering legal action against Malta.

The Opposition said it also considered the government's contract with Henley and Partners for the operation of the scheme as being null and without legal effect.

The Opposition MPs declared that:

The Opposition had never recognised and would never recognise the legitimacy of the scheme for the sale of Maltese and European citizenship;

The sale of citizenship scheme was illegal and therefore invalid and only applied for as long as the Labour government was in office;

Once a PN government was elected, the scheme and its regulations would  be revoked. All citizenships and passports issued under the scheme would be withdrawn.

A future PN government would not recognise any guarantee, indemnity, assurance or other promises made by the government or Henley to applicants and those who bought Maltese citizenship.

No compensation would be given nor would funds be refunded for those who applied for or bought Maltese citizenship.

The protest was signed by lawyer Karol Aquilina and presented by Jason Azzopardi, shadow minister for home affairs.

In comments to the press, Dr Azzopardi said the PN considered the government’s contract with Henley as being invalid since one could not sell something which could not be sold, in this case, European citizenship.

He said the PN was holding the prime minister, Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia and the directors of Henley and personally responsible if they did not inform applicants that a future PN government would revoke citizenships and would not refund anything.

Dr Azzopardi said the PN was acting in line with legal advice. Asked if the advice would be published, he said the advice came from multiple sources.