Henley and Partners, the company tasked with managing the controversial “Individual Investor Programme” enabling the acquisition of Maltese citizenship, had been praised by former Finance Minister Tonio Fenech, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat revealed yesterday evening.
In a foreword which was attached to the company’s Global Residence Handbook, Mr Fenech wrote that “one firm which we have had the pleasure of working with is Henley and Partners.”
“Internationally recognised as the firm of choice for residence and citizenship planning, we sought their advice on the reform on our residence schemes and the development of new programmes designed to attract foreign investors to settle in our country. Their knowledge and expertise in this area are truly unrivalled and they have imparted to us some very valuable advice,” the former minister added.
Mr Fenech had pointed out that Malta introduced its first residence scheme over twenty years ago, and wrote that at that time, “Henley and Partners was focusing on residence and citizenship planning when most international lawyers and wealth planning professionals were not considering the subject to be of great importance.”
“Today the world looks very different, and countries find themselves competing not only for international talent but also for investors, entrepreneurs and high-net-worth individuals and families.”
Tonio Fenech's reply
PN MP and former Finance Minister Tonio Fenech today said that he gladly endorsed Henley and Partners due to their sage advice on the previous administration’s residency scheme.
“I gave Henley and Partners my endorsement because their advice on the residency scheme was good, and it was given for free. When Malta came to discuss citizenship with Henley, they told you to implement a proper scheme based on serious investment. They advised that the money generated from the scheme should be put in a fund dedicated to improving research and innovation. You wanted a quick buck. You had to invent a scheme to sell our country cheaply,” Mr Fenech said to the government benches.
Mr Fenech said that the ‘Individual Investor Programme,’ certainly lives up to its name, as it “really is an individual programme, because the only person benefitting is the individual.
“Online gaming brings in €50 million in taxes alone, not to mention the taxes from the 7,000 people who are employed in the sector. Half of them are foreign. We did not need to sell our citizenship in order for them to come here. We created a sector which interests them,” Mr Fenech said.
Mr Fenech called the budget a “PR exercise that hides the true details through obfuscation.”
They keep blaming the previous administration for everything. It is this government that increased this year’s deficit needlessly,” Mr Fenech said.