Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/922844
10 maltatoday SUNDAY 7 JANUARY 2018 News Faisal Alibrahim Ibrahim Waleed Alibrahim Gilbert Teodoro Dragan Solak Leonid Korotkov Alexey De Monderik Dmitry Semenikhin Hussein Dawood Saudi Arabian investment advisor Saudi founder of MBC channel Former secretary of national defence of the Philippines Serbian media magnate Former governor of Amur Oblast in Siberia Co-founder Kaspersky Lab Russian writer and businessman Pakistani industrialist Merhba! Dobro požalovat! Malta's new citizens Russian nationals dominate list of global rich who are now 'Maltese' YANNICK PACE LAST week the government published the full list of people who were granted Maltese citizenship during 2016, including those who had purchased their citizen- ship through the Individual Investor Programme (IIP). Under the IIP, high-net worth individuals can obtain Maltese, and therefore EU citizenship, against a fee of €650,000, as well as €150,000 in government bonds and a €350,000 investment in property. A physical pres- ence is not required for applicants to prove residency. The scheme has been controversial since its incep- tion, and while Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has insisted that IIP would allow Malta to attract talent towards its shores, opponents have argued that the government is effectively prostituting the country for a measly sum, insisting citizenship should not be for sale. The programme was also at the centre of allegations last year that the Prime Minister's chief-of-staff Keith Schembri, and Nexia BT owner Brian Tonna were in- volved in the laundering of money coming from kick- backs from applicants. Doubt has also been cast on the individuals being granted citizenship, despite the government's reassur- ances that the strictest of due diligence processes is carried out before applicants are approved. Why do people buy passports? For some, acquiring a passport is simply a status sym- bol like cars or summer-houses. Others from countries with restrictive passports might choose to do so to fa- cilitate their travels around the world, or as insurance in the eventuality of sanctions, natural disasters or war. According to a 2015 IMF report on Economic Citi- zenship Programmes, "high net-worth individuals consider citizenship/residency as a means to improv- ing international mobility, tax planning, and family security while also seeking investment opportunities". Who's on the list? The list includes over 2,000 names, of which around half are relatively common Maltese names and there- fore likely to belong to naturalised citizens. From the remaining list of names looked into by MaltaToday – a relatively small sample when considering the to- tal number of names on the list – it emerged that a majority are from Russia and other Eastern European countries. The list also includes a high proportion of people from Gulf states, Middle-Eastern and African countries. These are some of the more notable names that ap- pear in the list. There is no implication of any wrong- doing on the part of the applicants. Faisal Alibrahim – Saudi Arabian strategy, invest- ment and business development advisor. According to his LinkedIn profile he is currently an advisor to Saudi Royal Court, the Saudi ministry of Economy and Plan- ning, and a former advisor to Uber. He has held a num- ber of roles in Saudi Aramco believed to be the most valuable company in the world, with $2 trillion to $10 trillion dollar value estimation. Gilbert Teodoro – Former secretary of the national defence of the Republic of the Philippines, a post he held between 2007 and 2009. Having previously been a member of the house of representatives, Teodoro ran for the president in the 2010 elections, losing to Noynoy Aquino. Following his time in politics he was appointed an independent director of Banco de Oro, one of the Phil- ippines' largest banks and was named chairman of the Sagittarius Mines Incorporated in August 2015. In June 2016 he declined an offer by Philippine presi- dent Rodrigo Duterte for him to return to his post as Secretary of National Defence. Leonid Viktoryvich Korotkov – He is a member of Russia's Communist Party and is a former governor of Amur Oblast in Siberia in Russia. He was nominated to a second term by Russian President Valdimir Putin but was sacked, again by Putin, when he was accused of abuse of power. In 2010, Kortkov is reported to have been acquit- ted of the charges of rising electricity tariffs to ille- gally fund a local football team, buying cars at inflated prices as well as payment for shares in a company that were never transferred to his government. Dmitry Vladimirovich Semenikhin – He is a 21-year-old Russian writer and businessman. He is the author of five science-fiction novels and was a regular contributor to the publication Business Insider. He is the founder of Yacht Harbour media holding, which generated an estimated $4.4 million in revenue in 2016. Yacht Harbour is based in Monaco and Mos- cow and runs databases and online news portals in the yachting sector. Alexey Alexandrovich Marey – Was the CEO of Alfa Bank Russia, the country's largest private bank by assets. According to a Reuters report published in November of this year, the bank announced in a state- ment that Marey had left his post "as his family is mov- ing to another location". Sheikh Ibrahim Waleed Alibrahim - Saudi founder of the Middle East Broadcasting Company (MBC). He was recently arrested as part of a corruption probe by Individual Investor Programme Billionaires, magnates, politicians and a Saudi prince... the new 'Maltese' who buy themselves a €650,000 passport may never step foot in Malta but are buying ease-of-movement across the world