Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/290775
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 APRIL 2014 7 line with the law and follow up on its enforcement. Lucrative outsourcing While De Gaetano may wryly toast his 15-year battle with MEPA, his painstaking campaign through the Maltese justice system ambled at a snail's pace – a reminder of the kind of hardship endured by so many people trying to secure their rights in long, expensive court cases. MEPA's umbrage at being chal- lenged by its own head of legal serv- ices did not stop it from 'sidelining' him to handle appeals cases, while outsourcing its caseload to Abela Stafrace & Associates. Ian Stafrace was later made chief executive of MEPA in 2010 under the reform led by the Nationalist administration at the time. Abela Advocates were still retained as MEPA's legal consultants, now led by Robert Abela and his wife Lydia Abela (today secretary of the Labour Party executive committee). The retainer appears paltry but it is in fact bolstered by a handsome hourly rate that runs into the thou- sands due to the hours clocked up in during work carried out inside the MEPA offices. Up until 2015, Abela Advocates will be paid at least €107,000 for its work over three years, excluding an additional €54.99 for each hour of additional work. The contract was extended in 2013 without any pub- lic call. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, under whose responsibility MEPA falls, told the House in a reply to a PQ that MEPA had extended Abela Advocates' contract because the original contract, which was for a definite period, included an exten- sion clause. The finance ministry's approval for the three-year exten- sion was issued in July 2013. According to official figures laid in the House, Abela, Stafrace & As- sociates had been paid €1.23 mil- lion up until 2011 for handling its caseload. The firm was originally chosen by MEPA after a call for expressions of interest and the authority retains the right to terminate the appoint- ment at any moment in time. The company is one of two firms con- ducting legal work at MEPA. mvella@mediatoday.com.mt News 15 years of court action and MEPA's most lucrative contract De Gaetano filed an ordinary citizen's complaint to MEPA to report that architect Raymond Farrugia had filed false plans Functional address and a yacht club membership 'makes good IIP resident' MIRIAM DALLI A 12-month residence status that is meant to create a "genuine link" between the country and appli- cants for the €650,000 passport being sold under the Individual Investment Programme, will re- quire two visits to Malta rather than an effective, 365-day stay. Identity Malta's chief executive officer Jonathan Cardona said that applicants for the IIP – who must be resident in Malta for 12 months prior to being issued with a cer- tificate of naturalisation – will not need to be physically present on the island throughout the entire period. "It doesn't mean the person has to be present in Malta for 365 days, even due of the principle of free movement," he said, adding that the applicant must make at the very least two visits to Malta. That might be easily arranged for the global rich interested in acquiring a passport: one visit to Identity Malta's offices to pay their €650,000 contribution, and another visit to take their oath of allegiance to become Maltese and EU citizens. In between, one of the over 50 accredited agents for the IIP will handle the other requirements – purchasing a €350,000 property or arranging a €16,000 annual prop- erty rental, and the acquisition of €150,000 in financial bonds. The onus of proving Maltese residence will be on the applicant, but Cardona offers insight on how residence is acquired: obtaining e- residence (a status common to all foreign residents in Malta) or en- rolment in the Global Residence Programme, having a functional residence, as well as being the member of social clubs, philan- thropic initiatives, engaging with professional bodies. So for example, enrolling a fam- ily doctor, membership with a yacht club, or participating in philanthropic activities, will bol- ster candidates' portfolios at prov- ing a genuine link with the island. "We'll judge these proposals as as adequate or not, on a case-by- case basis," Cardona told Malta- Today. Interest in the IIP Identity Malta has received 19 applications from individuals whom Cardona says have "huge business backgrounds" – people from India, a Palestinian living in the UK, China, Russia, America, and Canada. "They live across the globe but some of them intend bringing their family over to Mal- ta to plant their roots here." Cardona says the European Com- mission's main concern of Malta's IIP was that the sale of citizenship would not turn into a "passport by mail order" programme. "I think [Brussels] was misin- formed about the programme. We showed them that we had been in contract with embassies all over Europe discussing our plans. All agreed that this was a sovereign matter. The EU wanted a genuine link, and we agreed," he said. Cardona says the government's cap of 1,800 naturalised people through the IIP is still in force. Once applicants deposit a non- refundable €10,000 the applica- tion process is kick-started and four tiers of due diligence come into play: basic checks by the ap- proved agents; due diligence by fi- nancial regulator MFSA as well as the Lotteries and Gaming Author- ity; a risk assessment by Identity Malta; and a criminal background check. The process can take up to four months. Identity Malta then issues a let- ter of approval 'in principle', and applicants must deposit the re- maining €640,000 contribution within 25 days. They must also have their property element and €150,000 in government stocks in place, within four months. Henley subsidiary A Henley & Partners subsidi- ary – IIP Processing Ltd – is still occupying an office at the Medi- terranean Conference Centre, adjacent to the offices of the gov- ernment agency Identity Malta, which runs the Individual Inves- tor Programme. Henley & Partners were cho- sen as the IIP's concessionaire in 2013 to act as the sole introduc- ers of prospective applicants to purchase Maltese citizenship for €650,000. Since then however, over 50 new accredited Maltese and foreign agents were allowed to promote the IIP along with Henley. But the government is unwilling to publish the full details of a rent- al agreement for Henley's subsidi- ary, IIP Processing, to occupy an office a few steps away from Iden- tity Malta. "This contract is of a private and commercial nature. Originally, IIP Processing was going to han- dle the risk assessment and part of the due diligence process for each applicant, and it had been decided to locate it in close proximity to Identity Malta," Identity Malta's chief executive officer Jonathan Cardona told MaltaToday. Identity Malta has a rental agree- ment with MCC for its offices. Now that the full processing and due diligence is the full re- sponsibility of Identity Malta, IIP Processing's role is "primarily of an accounting nature", Cardona said – namely reconciling the ac- counts between Identity Malta and Henley & Partners. But Cardona also said that Henley, although still the IIP's concessionaires, "are on the same footing as approved agents", who can now introduce applicants to the IIP and carry initial due dili- gence checks. Henley is now "first among equals", in the words of Cardona, with approved agents working in parallel to Henley.