The agent for the cash for citizenship scheme has no objection to the publication of its contract even though the government refused to do so after citing commercial sensitivity, The Sunday Times of Malta has learnt. Henley and Partners chairman Christian Kalin said his company had “nothing to hide” and would not object to the publication of the contract related to the Individual Investor Programme; however, he would not publish it himself.
“We have no objections (to its publication) but it is up to the government to decide on this,” he said when contacted over the controversy that erupted in Parliament after the government refused to make the contract public.
Asked whether Henley would be prepared to publish it since, as it said, it had nothing to hide, Mr Kalin said: “No, this is something for the government to decide if and when to publish this contract.”
Last month, Speaker Anġlu Farrugia ruled that Parliament was sovereign and supreme and did not have to wait for the outcome of any court case disputing the award of the contract. The ruling was sought by the Nationalist Party which is insisting that the contract be made public and scrutinised by the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee.
It is something for the government to decide if and when to publish this contract
The government is, however, delaying its publication. One of the reasons given by Justice Minister Owen Bonnici was that a court hearing a case related to the Henley and Partners contract had decreed it should not be published.
The Opposition insisted there was no such decree and wrote to the Speaker to notify him that Dr Bonnici was trying to “mislead” the House.
When it turned out that the decree was connected to a confidentiality agreement and not to the contract, Dr Bonnici was asked to clarify his position by the Speaker and said he had based his argument on the information provided by the AG’s office.
In one of the last PAC sittings, Dr Bonnici repeatedly stressed that the government was not saying it did not want the contract on the Individual Investor Programme to be discussed.
However, it was arguing that the issue was not as urgent as the Opposition side was making it out to be, leading the government MPs on the PAC to vote against the Henley and Partners contract leapfrogging other items already on the agenda.
Dr Bonnici said disclosure of certain parts of the contract could be a “fatal blow” to the success of the Individual Investor Programme, with potential competitors itching to get their hands on the details.