Investment thrives on the good reputation of the recipient country. Government ministries, agencies, bodies and authorities, chief among which are the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry for the Economy, Malta Tourism Authority and Malta Enterprise, have, along the years, toiled ceaselessly to promote Malta in order to attract the best possible investment to our shores.

What if our government deliberately plays Russian roulette with all this and works hard, incredible as it may seem, to make Malta a safe haven for the unwanted in the world, including criminals? Are you comfortable knowing that this government gave itself the right at law to knowingly sell Maltese passports to people who are likely to cause disrepute to Malta and its image abroad?

What do the employees at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including our diplomats, and those at the MTA think about their work, and Malta’s reputation, being blown to smithereens since Maltese passports can be sold in a melting pot for those involved in criminal activity, such as money laundering and drug trafficking?

It rankles so much knowing that our law, enacted by this government in 2014, allows foreigners having a criminal record and, worse still, foreigners involved in activity likely to cause disrepute to Malta or are security threats to Malta, to become Maltese citizens through the infamous Individual Investor Programme.

Yes, I admit readers will not believe this. It is insane that this government wanted these types of dangerous foreigners to be able to buy Maltese passports and thereby acquire European citizenship.

We are supposed to trust Identity Malta, run like a fiefdom by persons of the Prime Minister’s trust

For the sake of the incredulous, allow me to quote clause 6 of the Legal Notice 47 of 2014: “An applicant who - (a) provides false information on his application; (b) has a criminal record; (c) is the subject of a criminal investigation; (d) is a potential national security threat to Malta; (e) is, or is likely to be, involved in any activity likely to cause disrepute to Malta; or (f) has been denied a visa to a country with which Malta has visa-free travel arrangements and has not subsequently obtained a visa to the country that issued the denial, shall not be approved for citizenship under the programme, unless Identity Malta is satisfied that the applicant is still worthy of being considered for approval due to special circumstances to be demonstrated by the applicant. In such case, Identity Malta shall issue a reasoned opinion as to why such applicant should still be considered for approval and shall refer such application to the minister, who will have the sole authority to grant such approval.”

The Opposition in Parliament had spoken vociferously against this clause and voted against it in 2014. Just as we did with the 2013 version of this legal notice which had also an exact replica of this clause 6.

The government was adamant, both in 2013 and in 2014 in the two different, yet similar, legal notices on the sale of Maltese passports, to give this absolute and subjective discretion to the minister.

After the myriad cases of gross abuse countenanced or committed by Identity Malta in the recent months, leading even to successful court cases instituted by the Nationalist Party to strike foreigners from the electoral register after providing bogus addresses, we are supposed to trust this same Identity Malta, run like a fiefdom by persons of the Prime Minister’s trust, exercising its ‘reasoned opinion’ to the minister to allow potential terrorists to buy our citizenship.

This outrageous clause 6 should be deleted by the government without any further ado.

Does being concerned at the possibility of foreign criminals buying our citizenship amount to betraying our national interest? Does being incredulous at the perfectly legal scenario of a foreign drug or human trafficker, having been denied a visa by another European country (surely not for capricious motives) to be allowed nonetheless to become a Maltese citizen amount to partisanship? Does being shocked at the possibility of foreigners likely to cause disrepute to Malta or, worse still, pose security threats to our country to be allowed to buy Maltese passports amount to treason?

For goodness’ sake, let us agree not to agree on whether citizenship can or ought to be sold.

But we cannot not agree that the six frightful scenarios of clause 6 in the 2014 Legal Notice run diametrically counter to our national interest and put paid to all the “due diligence” that should be carried out by our law enforcement agencies.

Let us not play with fire at the national interest’s expense. It will be too costly, painful and embarrassing to pick up the pieces otherwise.

jason.azzopardi@gov.mt

Jason Azzopardi is shadow minister for home affairs and national security.