A total of €310.3 million were generated by the Individual Investors’ Programme (cash for passports scheme) by the end of last month, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said this morning.
Speaking in Parliament during the debate on his ministry’s Budget vote, the minister said Malta had also benefitted from €44 million in property purchases and €24 million in leases.
Those acquiring the citizenship through the IIP also made other contributions to voluntary organisations and NGOs.
The minister denied accusations by shadow minister Jason Azzopardi that Identity Malta was synonymous with corruption, non-transparency, and abuse.
The minister said the problem was that once applicants were issued with an identity card, they were automatically registered as a voter. However, there were IIP buyers who had declared they were not interested in voting and Identity Malta had drawn up a form for these people to state so.
Turning to the courts system, Dr Bonnici said that in 2013, the EU had shown the government a yellow card for the number of pending cases. He said in 2015 the clearance rate was 12 per cent over 2012. Between January and September this year the rate was 15 per cent over the same period in 2012.
He showed concern at the criticism levelled on the Attorney General who the Opposition claimed had become part of the ministry. He said this was not the way to attack constitutional entities. The country was as strong as its institutions.
The time had come for prosecutions to be carried out by the office of the AG rather than by the police and an independent unit had been set up.
Referring to band clubs which feared being evicted out of their premises because of an anti-constitutional law, Dr Bonnici said the court judgement was not final as an appeal was imminent. Furthermore, in January 2014, the government issued a legal notice which gave better protection to the clubs and made the rent process more just.