UPDATED - Adds Ministry's reaction
Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said this evening that a future PN government would review the citizenship scheme being introduced by the government and may even withdraw citizenship awarded to foreigners.
Dr Busuttil was speaking in Parliament during amendments to the Citizenship Act which provide for the 'citizenship for sale' scheme.
Dr Busuttil said citizenship was the dearest thing for the Maltese, but this scheme shamed Malta and reduced the country to the level of tax haven countries which had similar legislation.
This, he said, was a scheme which would give foreigners the possibility of buying citizenship for a relatively low price without even needing to come here or investing here.
Dr Busuttil insisted that citizenship was priceless and should not be sold, certainly not in the way the government was proposing.
The opposition, he said, had sought consensus with the government, but to no avail.
The scheme as proposed was open-ended and gave so many powers to the Home Affairs Minister that it could open the way to abuse and corruption.
Dr Busuttil called on the government to publish the complete contract with Henley and Partners, who would administer the scheme.
Parliamentary Secretary Edward Zammit Lewis said the Leader of the Opposition should be ashamed for threatening to withdraw such citizenship rights. This was serous abuse and irresponsibility.
He said that contrary to Dr Busuttil’s shocking threats, the previous Labour opposition had always supported successive Nationalist governments on financial services even though there were times when it had registered disagreement. On the contrary, the leader of the opposition was causing harm to the country.
The Parliamentary Secretary said that since the Labour government had launched the Global Residence Scheme four months ago, foreigners in Malta had made majors property investment with 29 out of 39 properties contracted for sale in one week. This contrasted sharply with the Permanent Residents Scheme launched by the Nationalist government which in 22 months before its suspension had attracted only six applicants with four being processed.
He accused the Opposition of having very little credentials in talking about due diligence because of controversies surrounding certain people who came to reside in Malta under the previous government.
MINISTRY - CITIZENSHIP CANNOT BE WITHDRAWN
Meanwhile, in a statement, the Ministry of Home Affairs said no prime minister or minister may withdraw anyone's citizenship other than for serious offences as laid down in the Citizenship Act. (Fraud, false representation or concealment of a material fact.)