Chamber to meet government over IIP redraft

The Chamber of Commerce will be meeting with Home Affairs Ministry Byron Camilleri and Parliamentary Secretary Alex Muscat next week to start working on a redraft of Malta’s citizenship scheme, the IIP, David Xuereb, President of the Chamber of Commerce said on Indepth.

The IIP scheme has long been a subject of controversy in Malta.

“This controversy came about because there wasn’t enough explanation on what it was supposed to be exactly, what it should have attracted and what it actually did attract,” Xuereb told The Malta

Independent Media Consultant

Rachel Attard.

“We understand that the fund’s due diligence is very reliable, one of the most reliable when compared to most countries. However, our scheme was too focused on making sales, it was too ‘in your face’ and everything depended on money.”

He said that Camilleri and Muscat invited the Chamber for a meeting after the presentation of its good governance manifesto, in order to help in the redrafting of the scheme. Meetings on the subject will take place over the coming weeks.

The Chamber has recently released a manifesto that promotes good governance under the name ‘Ethical Business Calls for Change’, in which it addresses the issues surrounding the IIP. The manifesto suggests the Government to “suspend temporarily the Malta Individual Investor Programme (IIP) to ascertain that any necessary investigations and due diligence is being carried out and ensure that the high standards and requirements imposed under the IIP and other residence/citizenship laws are fully adhered to.”

Asked whether suspending the IIP would hurt those who live off it, Xuereb said the proposal to suspend the scheme was made by those same members who benefit from the scheme.

“They want to keep using the IIP scheme but one that is not weighed down by a problem that doesn’t convince their clients or doesn’t deliver because of it.”

Watch the full interview on www.independent.com.mt