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26.09.19 9 EDITORIAL BusinessToday is published every Thursday. The newspaper is a MediaToday publication and is distributed to all leading stationers, business and financial institutions and banks. MANAGING EDITOR: SAVIOUR BALZAN COORDINATING EDITOR: PAUL COCKS CONTRIBUTING JOURNALISTS: MASSIMO COSTA | LIAM CARTER BusinessToday, MediaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN9016, Malta Newsroom email: bt@mediatoday.com.mt Advertising: afarrugia@mediatoday.com.mt Telephone: 00356 21 382741 R eaders of this newspaper need no con- vincing that fairness and full informa- tion are key elements in a modern free market. On that basis alone, we need to call out cer- tain irregularities with the way the Individual Investor Programme is run. ere is no doubt that the IIP has provided a formidable boost to the consolidated fund, and that the millions reaped in the national posterity fund can be put to use in times of extraordinary need, or even for projects of goodwill that could serve to better Malta's hu- man capital. Nothing, for example, would be more welcome than a concrete investment in Malta's education system – be it both infra- structure and teachers' salaries – and in Mal- ta's financial security and crime prevention sectors. But beyond the benefits of the national so- cial and development fund and its key con- tributor, this week's undercover exposé by a French television programme of one of the IIP's main agents boasting of political connec- tions, raises a few red flags. e IIP has already been the subject of of- ten scathing criticism by the European Par- liament, among other international institu- tions… on the basis that a Maltese passport entails access to the entire European Union. e arguments vary: some say it amounts to an alleged security risk for other countries, even though this is actually one of the most scrutinised requests for free movement in the EU. So it has been refreshing to see immediate action taken with the suspension of the agent in question and an inquiry launched into the applicants of the said agent. Nothing could be worse than adverse publicity for the IIP, so the actions of parliamentary secretary Julia Farrugia Portelli and the MIIPA are indeed welcome. However, this inquiry should not stop there. ere are indeed concrete reforms necessary to make the IIP stronger. In the first place, Article 6 of the IIP, which grants the minister discretion to green-light applicants recommended by the IIP agen- cy but who might have a criminal record or similar peccadillo, should be revoked. Only clearly identifiable rules should be the key criteria to determine successful rules, and the minister's discretion should only be employed in reasoned motivations to refuse applicants, always within the bounds of the rule of law. Secondly, the MIIPA has to furnish of its own accord, the entire list of names of golden passport applicants because the naturalisation of these citizens is the result of a commercial transaction, and as such makes it of public in- terest that the rest of the citizenry, both na- tive and naturalised, is aware of who obtains Maltese nationality and its benefits by dint of their investment. e practice of publishing the names of newly-naturalised citizens al- phabetically by name, and not by surname, is nothing but a childish game and a sham. irdly, the Office of the Regulator of the IIP is urged to carry out a proper inquiry into the value of properties acquired and rented out by the IIP citizens, to ensure that proper archi- tectural valuations have been submitted for each property invested by the IIP applicants as per the programme's rules. Fourthly, the ORiip should also issue the sta- tistics pertaining to each individual agency's number of applications presented to the MII- PA and how many of these were successful. It is clearly essential that businesses have access to such information so as to have full informa- tion on the citizenship market. Last, but certainly, not least, the problem of nepotism and favouritism has to be eradicat- ed with strict rules. A case in point is news that Chetcuti Cauchi, the suspended agency, was allowed to use the interior of the Auberge de Castille as its back- drop for a promotional video that stars Julia Farrugia Portelli and MIIPA CEO Jonathan Cardona. is gives Chetcuti Cauchi an unfair advantage over other worthy agencies, and also represents a gross misuse of the premises of the State for the benefit of a private firm. ose videos should be pulled down from the company's website and social media pres- ence, the high-ranking officials featuring in it should apologise for promoting the company (albeit through an otherwise neutral pres- entation of the IIP), and the company itself should pay the exchequer a fair rate for having employed the premises for its promotional purposes. Fairness, before anything else Fairness on the IIP, before anything else

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