Identity Malta, the agency running the cash-for-passports scheme, has insisted that it is obeying the letter of the law under the Citizenship Act by publishing an annual list of all those who have acquired citizenship.

This list, published in the Government Gazette, makes no distinction between those who paid for their Maltese passports and those who did not.

Last week, the Times of Malta reported that the Electoral Commission had filed a judicial letter accusing Identity Malta of failing to provide it with details about new Maltese voters, as it is bound to do by the Constitution.

“The Electoral Commission expects [Identity Malta] to furnish all the information about Maltese citizens who have the right to vote according to the provisions of the law,” constitutional lawyer Ian Refalo said in the judicial letter.

Identity Malta does not hold the information on whether a person has the right to vote

Insisting it had to have complete information, the Electoral Commission warned the government agency that “in the eventuality of failing to come in line with legal requirements, the Commission will be constrained to proceed further according to the law”.

By law, Identity Malta is obliged to submit a list every month of all those who become Maltese citizens. This paper reported last week that though Identity Malta had given the Electoral Commission these lists, they lacked the names and details of those who had acquired citizenship through the cash-for-passports scheme.

In its response to the judicial letter, signed by lawyer Pawlu Lia, Identity Malta said it did not hold the information on whether a person had the right to vote as set out under the Constitution.

The Nationalist Party has hit out at Justice Minister Owen Bonnici for “rendering himself complicit in corruption and the breach of the constitution” by failing to take action against Identity Malta over the voting rights’ controversy. Dr Bonnici is not taking any action against the guilty parties at an “evidently corrupt” agency, the PN said in a statement.

It said Identity Malta was run by “friends of friends” in a corrupt manner and has been for months refusing to give the Electoral Commission the details of those who have benefited from the cash-for-passports scheme. The PN said that all those buying a passport were obtaining the right to vote.

Earlier this year, the PN filed a court case demanding that 91 applicants under the scheme be struck off the electoral register.