Updated | ‘Golden passport’ concessionaire Henley to take 4% commission

Opposition spokesperson on home affairs Jason Azzopardi has called on the government to publish a contract with concessionaire Henley & Partners, who have been exclusively contracted to promote government's 'citizenship by investment' scheme.

The IIP (Individual Investment Programme) will sell Maltese citizenship to applicants and their dependants for €650,000, but Jason Azzopardi claims that Henley will be receiving €140,000 for each application. Home affairs minister Manuel Mallia has denied the sum.

"This is nothing but playing with words," Azzopardi said. "The PN is referring to approved applications, and not to a sum paid for every application forwarded to the government."

MORE How the IIP will work

In a statement, the home affairs ministry said Henley would be paid a 4% contribution on marketing and processing expenses, and that this rate could not possibly reach €140,000 as claimed by Azzopardi.

In an extract of the contract published by the ministry, it was revealed that of the €650,000 application fee paid into the IIP account, 6% would be paid to the government agency Identity Malta, 4% will be paid to the concessionaire Henley, and the remaining 90% passed into the national development fund that will be created as an investment vehicle for the money received from the IIP.

As concessionaire, Henley is solely licensed to promote the IIP and conduct due diligence through licensed agencies or those companies currently licensed by the MFSA to sell Malta's global residence programme.

"If the minister is to believed, he should publish the contract with Henley, which is selling Maltese citizenship on the cheap and which will pay Henley for a commission on any citizenship it sells," Azzopardi said.

The Nationalist party does not agree with the IIP, unless it is tied to some form of tangible investment or job-creating endeavor.

Azzopardi also called into question Henley's conflict of interest, saying that the concessionaire was interested in seeing that its recommended applicants are given a passport so that it can be paid a commission. "Mallia wants us to believe that Henley will be preventing its own customers from securing Maltese citizenship... he is not realizing that both him and Prime Minister are putting Malta's reputation at risk."

The government plan to sell Maltese citizenship to the world's super-rich lacks any form of transparency or accountability because the VIPs who buy a passport will not have their names published in the government gazette, and home affairs minister Manuel Mallia will be granted discretionary powers to award citizenship to applicants facing so called "politically motivated" charges.