Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1201983
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 19 JANUARY 2020 NEWS video of French TV sting by IIP agent not push through applications with problematic histories (56'50''): "I'm always very care- ful to explain to people like that, 'look it doesn't mean I can get something done if it's not... but [the pre-check with MIIPA) it improves the chances... So that's the way I operate, so to do it the right way, if there is a concern, address the concern. And if it's not doable, we can be honest and say, 'I can't help here'." Chetcuti is, in fact, also re- corded earlier on in the video saying he meets the MIIPA head because the agency re- quests additional informa- tion on applicants being pro- cessed. "We meet every month," Chet- cuti is heard saying in the video, "to go over the list [of pending applications]… many times he tells me 'withdraw this as we don't think we're going to accept this'." Chetcuti denies saying that he can influence a minister to overrule a rejection. "What I explained in the video was that I discuss my clients' applications regularly so that I can under- stand from the MIIPA whether I will need more information from the client to bolster their case." Chetcuti also insists the re- cording shows him impressing upon the journalist the rigor- ous process of due diligence. At 15'57" Chetcuti says: "Malta is on the other extreme. Malta ranks very well, and in a way, that also means that it is stricter, but when you're ap- proaching a bank and you're showing that you've passed through a very rigorous immi- gration process with Malta – and Malta is famed to be the gold standard of due diligence – it helps." Chetcuti says his firm pre- checks its applicants with MII- PA when there is bad press or political connections (22'40") during screening meetings. "We speak to various stake- holders, head of the programme in the ministry… to understand how they will react to it and whether the justification would work. As much as possible we do that on a no-name basis… we say 'look, this client has this kind of political exposure'… usually the answer isn't a straight no, some- times it is. Usually the answer is 'it's dealt on a case-by-case basis. You need to satisfy these requirements, or you need to explain this or show that this is false. Sometimes it's a matter of discrediting the media source." During these meetings, Chetcuti says the MIIPA head could advise him to withdraw applications the agency is u n c o m f o r t a b l e with (24'25"): "I can't guar- antee this but many times he tells 'withdraw this as we don't think we're going to accept this. That's invaluable as it saves the client a rejection." Transparency on IIP names: lawyer claims he can use lengthy court case to delay publication of- names In the recording, Chetcuti suggests that a case on behalf of an IIP applicant wanting to prevent the publication of his name in the annual register of naturalised citizens could be won in the courts by suing the government. Chetcuti says there are "very good legal arguments" based on the right to privacy, family life and security; but adds that "it helps that the government doesn't fight back" after years of court wrangling. In this excerpt, Chetcuti suggests that filing a pro- hibitory injunction to temporarily post- pone publication, followed by legal action, could take four years for a first judgement. " W o r s t - case sce- nario: we lose, we appeal," he says, surmising it would take another five years for a decision. "My under- standing, and it's not a guess, is that after nine years of de- laying it, the government is not going to remember and be so organised to say 'ah, nine years we could not pub- lish this name, let's publish him now.' So my gut feeling is that even after nine years, they will not publish him be- cause they… don't have an interest to do it, they don't get anything from it. "But we have a very good legal basis for it." MaltaToday has regularly published stories demand- ing that the MIIPA releases an IIP-only list. A Freedom of Information request on this matter alone has been reject- ed. The Maltese government tries to short-circuit media in- terest in the IIP by publishing the naturalisation list during the Christmas season, and by listing names – and not surnames – alphabetically in a deliberate ploy to prevent journalists from identifying families of applicants. The MIIPA has also refused to issue statistics on success rates by Maltese licencees of the IIP. And the IIP regulator has suggested that MPs could be given confidential access to the IIP citizen list.