Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/519957
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 31 MAY 2015 4 News CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 In their reply, Identity Malta said Malta- Today's FOI request was exempt- ed under the law's provisions on documents with personal data. "However, as Mrs Mallia is the wife of the former minister re- sponsible for citizenship matters, whereby it is to be remarked that Dr Mallia did not decide on his wife's request for citizenship, for the sake of transparency a copy of her application for naturalisation is attached… with the personal de- tails contained therein, however, deleted…" Mallia was recently accused by the PN of having fast-tracked his wife's application for citizenship. But the former minister, dis- missed after his security driver fired his service gun at a motor- ist in a hit-and-run collision with the parked ministerial car, has declared there was "nothing im- proper" about his wife's citizen- ship application. "I did not examine her request and it was not approved by me. The certificate of citizenship was not signed by me but independ- ently without my intervention," Mallia said back on 4 May. Identity Malta did not release the supporting documentation re- quested by MaltaToday showing who green-lit his wife's citizenship application. MaltaToday was told by two EU nationals married to Maltese citi- zens – on condition of anonymity – that they had been exhausted by the bureaucracy at Identity Malta in obtaining naturalisation. In both cases, they have been living in Malta since before its accession to the EU in 2003, and married for over seven years. They are still waiting for natu- ralisation, having applied over two years ago. The allegations about Mallia's wife's naturalisation came about after MaltaToday first reported that the chief medical officer had obtained a garnishee order against Elena Codruta Cristian – still an unmarried Romanian national living in Malta – for €3,657.11 in outstanding bills from Mater Dei Hospital claimed between 16-21 December, 2008. Although an EU citizen, it would seem Codruta Cristian was still li- able for national health fees. Mallia has stated that his wife applied for naturalization under article 10(1) of the Citizenship Act, and not on the strength of her marriage to him. "My wife satisfied this condition [of residence]," he said, saying his wife had already resided for 10 years prior to her application and that she had three children, Mal- tese citizens, at the time. Despite his denial, controversy centres around whether Mallia's wife benefited from undue favour- itism by the citizenship and expa- triate affairs department owing to her spouse. "The minister responsible for cit- izenship matters has the discretion to grant or refuse such applica- tions," Mallia said of the home af- fairs minister's overweening power in granting citizenship. "Applications for citizenship un- der such a provision are mainly considered under policy guide- lines. In this respect during the previous legislature it was the es- tablished policy that requests, by persons who have been residing in Malta for a period of ten years and who have children, who are citi- zens of Malta, even if such persons are not married, would be consid- ered favourably – obviously if such persons are of good conduct and there are no issues that go against the public interest. "Such a policy was retained by the current government. Several foreigners have been granted citi- zenship on the basis of these crite- ria both in the previous legislature and under the current govern- ment," Mallia had said. PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami has claimed that Cod- ruta Mallia's naturalisation was a breach of the law and an abuse of power. "There are rigorous rules in place in the granting of citizen- ships and Mallia's decision is a case of abuse of power," Fenech Adami had said. He also accused current home affairs minister Carmelo Abela of "covering up" for Mallia's abuses and misleading the media by stat- ing that Mallia's wife was granted citizenship given her already ex- isting EU citizenship. Minister denied fast-tracking wife's citizenship application Boy dies after being hit by car in Pembroke A 10-year-old boy who was hit by a car next to the Luxol Grounds in Pembroke has unfortunately succumbed to the injuries he suf- fered. The accident happened at around 4pm yesterday when the boy was hit by a vehicle being driven by a 38-year-old Turkish national. The child was rushed to Mater Dei Hospital for medical treat- ment but efforts to save him failed. The police said investigations are ongoing and a magisterial in- quiry is also under way. Former Minister Manuel Mallia and his wife, Elena Codruta The naturalisation application of Elena Codruta Mallia, dated 21 March, 2014