Risk and responsibility

“We are only accepting 400 citizenship applications a year, a drop in the ocean compared to the huge numbers accepted for EU citizenship who are not subject to anything like our regime of due diligence.”

When you hear that the European Commission has identified citizenship schemes such as Malta’s as raising the risk of a possible infiltration of non-EU organised crime groups, as well as money laundering, corruption and tax evasion possibilities, you can be forgiven for asking if we are doing the right thing. Words such as “crime” and “money laundering” strike fear into us but if you re-read that sentence you could also choose to highlight the words “risk” and “possibilities”.

The truth is that the European Union welcomes about two thirds of a million new citizens a year. Some have lived in the EU for years and that’s why they qualify. Others may have married an EU citizen. Whichever way these people qualify for citizenship you can be sure that they haven’t been subject to the rigorous checks carried out by applicants under

Malta’s citizenship scheme. Our due diligence is stringent. It involves police, intelligence, international agencies and a myriad of checks and investigations. It is as tough as they come. We understand that, despite all the checks, it is possible somebody unsuitable might sneak through. That is why our scheme includes the possibility of stripping a new citizen of their status should fresh information come to light.

We’ve already done this.

Our due diligence is such that anyone who is a money launderer, or some other type of criminal, would be well advised to go nowhere near it. A person who could not account for their wealth would soon stumble. This is the reality that opponents of the scheme are slow to recognise.

Citizenship is a member state competence, and not Brussels’. But we have listened to criticism and came up with a revised scheme which is based on residency that can lead to citizenship. Depending on the investments, applicants will have to have resided in Malta for at least one or three years before applying. There are a number of requirements they must fulfil including investing a property costing €700,000 plus or renting for at least €16,000 a year.

We are only accepting 400 citizenship applications a year, a drop in the ocean compared to the huge numbers accepted for EU citizenship who are not subject to anything like our regime of due diligence.

Our new citizens are successful people of talent.

They are contributing to the Maltese economy and are even required as per regulations to donate to charity and give a contribution to help the community of not less than €10,000.

Our first scheme, which has now closed its doors, brought in huge benefits to the Maltese economy, which has proved more than useful in a Covid-19 pandemic that has pushed the country’s finances back into the red.

When a country has a system of due diligence that tackles “risk” head on, the “crime” would be to close off a vital investment scheme for no good reason at all.