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A total of 140 foreign nationals have been processed for naturalisation as Maltese citizens under the Indi- vidual Investor Programme, Malta- Today has discovered. 100 of these applicants were rep- resented by Henley & Partners, the concessionaire and originator of Malta's 'golden passport' pro- gramme, which sells citizenship for €650,000 together with manda- tory investment requirements of €350,000 in property and €150,000 in financial instruments. The rest of the applicants were promoted by other licensed repre- sentatives, which in total now are 82 financial services practitioners and lawyers. The 140 applicants hail from 25 countries, none it appears from Eu- rope. A source who spoke to Malta- Today said applicants who had been impressed with Malta had sent over "business delegations investigating the set-up of business projects and offices." INTERVIEW 12-13 FRANK FABRI on schools and education xxxxx Newspaper post CONTINUES PAGE 4 SUNDAY • 15 JUNE 2014 • ISSUE 762 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY maltatoday WORLD CUP FEVER IS ONLINE AT MALTATODAY.COM.MT/SPORTS/WORLDCUP2014 FREE MATTHEW VELLA THE glut of bond issues by Malta's established business groups contin- ues, but retail investors beware: the devil is truly in the prospectuses' small print. Retail clients who spoke to this newspaper say that a €30 million bond issue from Mariner Finance plc, the parent company for sea terminal operator Mariner Group, does not contain the financial au- dited statements of previous years, and that its 2013 figures are only "illustrative" and "hypothetical" – that is, not the actual financials of last year. Much of this 'relaxed' approach to bond listings can be attributed to the Malta Financial Services Au- thority, which has made it easier for such companies and PLCs not to in- clude their historic financial state- ments in these bond prospectuses. Marin Hili's Mariner Group op- erates two container terminals in Latvia, with the SE Baltic Sea Ter- minal in Riga dubbed the "largest and fastest growing terminal" in the Baltic States. Retail clients who spoke to Mal- taToday however say the MFSA's relaxation of listing rules has only raised more questions about such bond issues: Mariner Finance's pro- spectus gives clients a 'pro forma consolidated financial statements' – not the audited statements it filed on 27 May, 2014 – and as such, is only "prepared for illustrative pur- poses". Millions in bonds thanks to easier MFSA rules, but investors must be cautious Citizenship: 140 from 25 countries buy passports CONTINUES PAGE 5 €1.20 Fever pitch! IT'S SUMMER SAMBA WITH MALTATODAY'S GOURMET TODAY BRINGING THE DELIGHTS OF BRAZIL TO YOUR TABLE TWO MAGAZINES! YOUR COPY OF INDULGE INCLUDED Didn't stay up to watch England v Italy? Photos, results and match report on MaltaToday.com.mt