A Maltese newspaper recently published a puff piece extolling the fact that Passports from Malta are reportedly the "8th most powerful" in the world, using the number of countries one could, with such a passport. travel visa-free to many countries. Who in the Maltese Government suggested that the topic be the subject of an article, we wonder ? The article conveniently fails to inform the reader that there are certain negative aspects to being a Maltese passport holder abroad, which any international lawyer will advise those who contemplate purchasing IIM ( Citizenship by Investment) passports, though few. if any, applicants, seek the counsel of a competent attorney before spending six figures for one.
Malta is known, like it or not, for the following:
(1) The IIM programme has approved, and issued passports to individuals from Russia ( including oligarchs), Iran, North Korea, as well as transnational white-collar criminals, and corrupt Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), all of whom purchase the passport for access to the other Members of the European Union. if that access was denied, without a visa, nobody on earth would be buying Maltese passports, which allow visa-free entry into the Shengen Zone.
(2) Corruption on a scale not seen in any other EU country, together with rampant money laundering and financial crime that no other country wants within its borders.
(3) Tax evasion promotion, advertised as "tax avoidance," which allows companies in other European nations to cheat their governments out of corporate income taxes.
(4) A large number of unsolved murders, including that of an investigative. journalist, where the country's leaders protect the people behind the killings.
(5) A large, and violent, organized crime entity affiliated with the Sicilian Mafia, that is facilitating the smuggling of narcotics into Europe and elsewhere.
(6) A corrupt political party in power, that remains in office through a massive campaign of voter bribery and other illicit methods of insuring that voters always support it.
(7) a totally corrupt court and justice system, where cases against powerful Maltese, or their supporters, fester for years without trial, which ignore there Rule of Law, and which discriminate against citizens of other countries, including those from the .
What do you think a compliance officer at an international banks abroad thinks, when a prospective customer presents a passport from Malta ? He wonders whether he is looking at a money launderer, financial criminal, or corrupt PEP. He wonders if the person is really a Maltese, or a passport buyer from a high-risk country, or a country that is a State Sponsor of Terrorism, using an Alias on his IIM passport. Customs and immigration officials ask themselves silently if this Maltese passport holder before them is a criminal, in jurisdictions outside the EU.
None of these issues are discussed in any of the so-called passport indexes, which boldly promote CBI passport sales, and we ask why ?
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