The government has so far raked in €120 million from the Individual Investor Programme – or citizenship-for-sale scheme - Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said this evening.

Replying to a parliamentary question by PN MP Claudio Grech, Dr Bonnici said the total contributions entered into Identity Malta’s IIP account add up to €119,875,100.00.

“Were it was up to the Opposition, which had ferociously criticized the programme, Malta would have lost this income,” Dr Bonnici said. “We have turned the IIP into a success.”

Replying to another PQ by Mr Grech, the Justice Minister, who recently assumed responsibility of Identity Malta,

That the government estimated it would earn some €80 million from the IIP scheme in 2016. Estimates for 2017 and 2018 depend on the success of the scheme, which the government would continue to support. Dr Bonnici said the government hoped the Opposition would do the same.