The Nationalist Party yesterday published a list of 13 amendments which it said would address the shortcomings of the draft legal notice regulating the citizenship scheme.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said that it was crucial that beneficiaries of the so-called Individual Investor Programme had to effectively reside in Malta for not less than 12 months.

Dr Busuttil warned that the Opposition would move a parliamentary motion to revoke this legal notice if the government would not take these amendments onboard. However the government is contending that unlike a Bill, a legal notice cannot be amended but only revoked.

The amendments seek to place Identity Malta in complete charge of the operational aspects of the programme rather than Henley & Partners which are referred to as the concessionaires.

This also includes the vetting of the applications and the due diligence process.

The PN also proposed to eliminate a proviso through which Identity Malta would be given the discretion to allow applications of individuals who would otherwise be ineligible, due to special circumstances.

Such cases deal with applicants having a criminal record, who could pose a threat to national security or be involved in an activity that could cause disrepute to the country.

Another significant amendment is that the applicant’s money would go directly to Identity Malta rather than having the concessionaire keeping it for up to two years, and thus exposing the government to financial liability in due course.

The PN also sought to include the term “effective residency” in the regulations so as to ensure that applicants really reside on the island for the minimum set period of time.

In addition it requested that this criterion should also apply to the dependents of the applicant which might benefit from this scheme at reduced fees.

The PN also insisted the oath of alliance by the successful applicants had to be taken in Malta.

Another amendment is to have stricter rules regulating those circumstances in which citizenship can be revoked. These include cases when it transpires that applicants did not effectively reside in Malta for 12 months prior to the issue of the naturalisation certificate and if they were no longer covered by a health insurance policy, which was one of the obligations laid down in the conditions of the scheme.

In a statement issued last night government said the Opposition was ignoring the European Commission’s seal of approval.

The government was willing to listen, however it was clear that the Opposition just wanted to derail the scheme.