Updated 10.20am - Busuttil wants investigation into Henley & Partners
A billionaire's admission that he opened a Pilatus Bank account to buy a Maltese passport, as well as a UK report linking Henley & Partners to Cambridge Analytica have sent alarm bells ringing at the Nationalist Party.
Times of Malta on Tuesday quoted a spokesperson for billionaire businessman Christopher Chandler as saying the Brexit backer had opened accounts at Pilatus "to take out Maltese citizenship".
In a statement issued on Wednesday morning, PN MP and spokesman for citizenship Karol Aquilina said the revelation was further evidence of how the bank was harming Malta's reputation as a financial services centre.
In his statement, Dr Aquilina asked who had urged Mr Chandler to open accounts with Pilatus Bank and "what role Identity Malta" played in the matter.
"An FIAU report exposed last year showed how accounts at Pilatus were used to launder money coming from the sale of Maltese citizenship," he added.
Investigate Henley & Partners influence - Busuttil
Dr Aquilina was not the only PN MP concerned by events on Tuesday.
In a Facebook post, former PN leader and its current spokesman for good governance Simon Busuttil highlighted an article in British political magazine the Spectator which linked citizenship advisory firm Henley & Partners and big data political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.
Henley & Partners are exclusively responsible for managing Malta's citizenship-by-investment programme, while Cambridge Analytica are in the eye of a political storm over their alleged misuse of millions of people's Facebook data.
According to the Spectator, Henley & Partners boss Christian Kalin and Cambridge Analytica's Alexander Nix worked together on election campaigns in the Caribbean several years ago.
READ: UK magazine links Henley & Partners to Cambridge Analytica
The magazine quotes Mr Kalin telling the then-leader of the Opposition in St Vincent and the Grenadines that he could count on several investments if he won the election, ranging from a chain of retail banks to major infrastructural projects.
In his Facebook post, Dr Busuttil expressed consternation at the article's claims.
"Henley & Partners may have exerted on Joseph Muscat and ultimately, on our political system," he said. "It calls for a serious investigation."