Updated 5pm with PL reaction

Opposition leader Adrian Delia has called for the immediate suspension of the passport scheme and for the government to shoulder political responsibility for what he called as the "reputational damage" done to Malta.

“Rather than give a signal that it intends to stop this harm and that the government is taking the bull by the horns, the government is taking a laissez-affair attitude,” Dr Delia said.

The Nationalist Party leader was speaking during a brief telephone interview broadcast on Saturday morning on the party’s radio station, in which he outlined the reasons why the Opposition had requested the matter to be debated in the Public Accounts Committee.

The PN submitted its request a few days ago in the wake of the revelations broadcast by a French television station on the “scandalous” Individual Investor Programme, as the cash-for-passports scheme is officially called.

The claims were backed up with footage of representatives of a firm licenced to sell passports, Chetcuti Cauchi Advisors, in which they bragged of having close links to the Prime Minister and other members of Cabinet, which they could use to lobby in their clients’ favour.

The representatives were filmed making the claims when talking to two undercover journalists for French TV channel M6 who posed a representatives of African clients seeking a Maltese passport.

At one point, the representatives said they could use their political links to secure a second chance to clients who had been refused after failing the due diligence test.

Apart from the Prime Minister himself, the representatives boasted of having close links to Julia Farrugia Portelli, the parliamentary secretary responsible for the IIP, and Justice Minister Owen Bonnici. All of the aforementioned denied any wrongdoing.

Malta's reputation has already been harmed

In his comments, Dr Delia said the reputational damage had already been done, as the video evidence had been broadcast.

“There is evidence in the form of recordings that they have the links, nepotism. They will get passports for those who have criminal records and they mention from whom,” the PN leader said.

Dr Delia reiterated his personal view that the scheme should have never been launched in the first place, saying that prior to his venture in politics he had started gathering signatures to stop such plan.

In principle citizenship or the country sovereignty should never be put up for sale. We should not prostitute our country. The consequences for those would exploit from these scheme not to invest but for other reasons, were obvious.- Adrian Delia

“In principle, citizenship or the country sovereignty should never be put up for sale. We should not prostitute our country. The consequences for those would exploit from these scheme not to invest but for other reasons, were obvious,” he said.

“Failure to put in place the best due diligence possible, would result in problems,” he added.

Dr Delia said that probing the firm in question would not address the reputational damage being done to Malta.

In view of this, the Opposition has requested the PAC to investigate all the persons mentioned in the footage, all the passports acquired through the firm and a wide overview of the scheme to flag potential abuses.

“Consequently, the scheme should be suspended pending the outcome of these investigations,” he said.

Pre-budget document

The PN's pre-budget document was presented to social partners last Friday.

Dr Delia also spoke about the PN’s pre-budget document which was presented on Friday, saying they had received very good feedback from social partners.

The document which has more than 100 proposals aims to outline the party’s vision and how it aspires to overcome existing challenges if it were to be elected to government, he said.

Dr Delia added that the party was also proposing a new form of mechanism to measure the quality of life rather than gross economic growth, by looking at the people’s state of wellbeing.

He also expressed concern on rising housing prices, saying that if such trend would persist, it could make Malta less competitive to gaming companies, which in turn would deal a blow on of the country’s main economic drivers.  

'Delia can't decide what he wants' - PL

In a statement later on Saturday, the Labour Party accused Dr Delia of flip-flopping on his demands, arguing that the Opposition leader had said both that he always opposed the IIP scheme, and that it should merely be suspended temporarily. 

"By contrast, this government believes in the programme, which has brought in important income for the country," the PL said. "At the same time, it has no problem taking steps to safeguard the reputation of the country and the programme, including in the specific case Dr Delia has spoken about."