Thanks to meticulous investigation by Times of Malta, the controversial citizenship scheme is now being better understood by ordinary people as each day some new information is added to what we already know.

I think that, in principle, if it is well-planned and there is consensus about it, the scheme could earn our debt-ridden island a handsome sum of euros which, as Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said, could support the health system, social services and other cash-hungry departments.

But the homework should be done correctly. People were taken for a ride when Henley & Partners and the government insisted that Austria operated a citizenship-by-investment programme when the Austrian Embassy in Malta categorically denied it.

I believe that as the situation with regard to Austria was cleared, the government should have advised Henley & Partners to correct their misleading website and the government itself should stop insisting that Austria runs a citizenship-by-investment scheme. A statement correcting the facts would have been welcome.

Times of Malta (January 23) couldn’t be clearer when it gave all the true facts about Austria’s denial on a whole page of valid information. Not only were the number of people granted Austrian citizenship under article 10 (6) of the Citizenship Act since 2008 very limited but, since 2012, no citizenship was granted.