An applicant under the government’s Individual Investor Programme had his residency permit revoked by Identity Malta after it emerged that he is facing extradition to Chile on fraud and money laundering charges.
Chilean Alberto Chang is the president and founder of Grupo Arcano, a private equity and venture capital firm worth millions.
Speaking to The Sunday Times of Malta, Mr Chang refuted the accusations against him and said he has been subjected to a trial by media in Chile. Prosecutors in Chile accuse him of running a Ponzi scheme worth $80 million that left investors high and dry.
Speaking from his Sliema apartment, Mr Chang said his company had only been forced into default because Chilean prosecutors seized all his assets on the basis of unproven charges.
He said all his company’s data in Chile had been seized, making it difficult for him to prove he has more than enough in assets to pay back investors.
Mr Chang, who has business interests spread over “four continents”, says he is using Malta as a base of operations in order to conduct his defence. He is currently carrying out a verification process of all the shares and assets of all his companies.
He is adamant that this process will prove that his global holdings are worth far more than the $80 million owed to Chilean investors, which will in turn show he had no intent to defraud them.
The only way I am going to be returning my identity card is through my lawyers
“We are in a tough moment, but we are in a clear moment. We know what we are worth. We know that we have the instruments and the means of payment. We have the will to pay and we have shown that in everything we have done,” Mr Chang said.
The beleaguered entrepreneur rubbished claims that he is using Malta as a hideout, as he had applied for Maltese citizenship long before the accusations were levelled against him in Chile two months ago.
He explained that he applied to become a citizen through the IIP in March 2015 and was granted a residency permit by Identity Malta last August after a due diligence process. He said he had received a letter from Identity Malta last Monday, summarily informing him that his residency permit had been revoked.
The Chilean entrepreneur says he plans to take legal action against the passport programme administrator for this unilateral revocation.
“I passed through Identity Malta’s due diligence process and was accepted. I paid all the necessary fees and they gave me my residency permit in August.
“The second step, which was in the process of being started, was to send the full dossier to two independent due diligence companies. We had not even started this process before Identity Malta suddenly decided that they do not want me.”
Mr Chang said Identity Malta did not even contact him directly. Instead, the citizenship scheme’s concessionaires, Henley & Partners, contacted him and asked him to return his identity card.
“The only way I am going to be returning my identity card is through my lawyers,” he said.