Rule-of-law group Repubblika said on Monday it never knowingly received a donation from anyone who bought Maltese citizenship, and should that be the case, it will return the donation immediately.

The group was reacting to stories carried on the newspaper Illum and on One TV.

The group said it remained firmly against the sale of Maltese passports and none of its donors ever declared having bought or been in the process of buying Maltese citizenship.

It said that the government obliges applicants for Maltese citizenship to declare a donation to a Maltese organisation.

It would therefore be writing to the responsible minister to ask him whether anyone had ever declared making such a donation to it. Should verification prove that declaration to be true,  the donation would be returned at once. 

"We want nothing to do with the infamous sale of our citizenship," the NGO insisted.