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8 OPINION 14.01.2021 A Sunday newspaper re- cently gave front page prominence to how Malta's passport scheme has been the object of criticism. e newspaper revealed how a Mal- tese passport was apparently is- sued to Saad bin Khalid Al-Jabri (pictured), a former high-rank- ing minister in the government of Saudi Arabia and who is currently exiled in Canada af- ter claiming to be the victim of a state-sponsored assassination attempt. His name was included in a list of successful applicants who have been granted Maltese citizenship. Certainly, given his former governmental position, he classifies as a politically ex- posed person with an interna- tional pedigree and who, under current rules, should have been singled out under the so-called tight scrutiny of the previous IIP regime. Local agents of the now dis- banded IIP scheme were always warned that applicants or any of their dependents could not be persons listed with Interpol at the time of the application. Saad Al-Jabri currently lives in Toronto along with most of his family fearing persecution from home and shielded with round the clock security super- vision. According to the New York Times, he is listed on In- terpol's system as of December 2017 after Saudi Arabia filed a report on him. His name was subsequently removed from the system in July 2018 after Interpol determined his listing to be "politically motivated". e controversial Golden Passport scheme was the sub- ject of adverse publicity in the past but the government al- ways reiterated that all appli- cants who are the subject of a criminal investigation will not be approved for citizenship. Surreptitiously, there is a pro- vision in the law that allows Identity Malta to reconsider this if there are "special cir- cumstances" which are demon- strated by the applicant. In that case, the Malta Individual In- vestor Programme Agency can issue a reasoned opinion on why the candidate should be considered for approval, and the application is referred to the Minister, who has the sole authority to grant the applica- tion or otherwise. e writer is an accredited agent who recently has had a number of bona fide applica- tions refused for hitherto tal- ented persons who could have helped financially in attracting FDI, more needed at a time when the country's debt has spiralled due to a stimulus and wage supplement helping tar- geted sectors. Reading such reports, one is surprised to note a two- weights-two-measures attitude has been apparently in place by the Ministry and its advisors. Following abrupt refusals, the available routes which offer some kind of recourse in the form of an independent review of the application do not elicit much solace to the aggrieved applicants and their agents other than the usual mantra that a passport is a concession and not a privilege. All this comes like a Damo- cles sword over the efforts of local agents to attract millions of euros (the list of agents has waned from over 180 to circa 55) knowing full well that the Commission has threatened Malta with infringement pro- ceedings. It is common knowledge that due to the pandemic there has been fewer applications (un- der 50) even though Cyprus (a main competitor) has since terminated its scheme. ose in the sector know that Mal- ta has lost the lucrative Asian market, as the latter prefer to invest in competitive proper- ty schemes for residence and passport packages introduced in Turkey. All the while, Malta gets the flak from the Opposition benches and EU Commission who insist passports may have been issued to persons of du- bious character. e irony is that Henley & Partners, which has been a sole concession- aire since inauguration of the scheme, has recently faded from the scene. Henley & Part- ners is reputed to have attract- ed the lion's share of the €1.5 billion passport revenue and was compensated at the rate of 4%. Definitely, local agents who promoted the scheme faced stiff competition from Henley & Partners, since all its global conferences were exclusively addressed by the former Prime Minister at the time. e pa- tronage by Castille was giv- en free to the concessionaire. Needless to say, no such pa- tronage was on offer to the rest of unremunerated agents who on their own steam also fund- ed similar promotional events. Magnanimously, Joseph Mus- cat showered positive com- ments each time he addressed delegates at Henley & Partners global events. He is quoted as saying that Malta's due dili- gence structure in vetting ap- plications is next to the gold standard. Not so salubrious was a re- port published by Transpar- ency International and Glob- al Witness 2018. It looked at various aspects of the schemes offered by Cyprus, Malta and Portugal, and the flaws or loop- holes in each, stressing that "insufficient due diligence, wide discretionary powers and conflicts of interest" could open Europe's door to the cor- rupt influences. While the government con- tinues to claim that the now defunct IIP programme was airtight with all necessary checks and balances in place, stories are emerging in the in- ternational and local press that show a different reality. Local agents who do not get that extra push of assistance have to go to great lengths and expenses to cover promotional events. One hopes that suffi- cient recognition is given to local agents who are active in the field – they who toil and continuously roam the four corners of the world to pro- mote Malta as a jurisdiction of choice. Golden passports - when the dirt hits the fan George Mangion George Mangion is a senior partner of an audit and consultancy firm, and has over 25 years experience in accounting, taxation, financial and consultancy services. His efforts have seen PKF being instrumental in establishing many companies in Malta and ensured PKF become one of the foremost professional financial service providers on the Island Saad bin Khalid Al-Jabri

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