The attention of the public on the citizenship for sale programme is being, if anything, further kindled by spin and media reports.

The public’s attention has been attracted by reports that a former Formula One driver, an internationally-known pop singer and a member of a Gulf royal family have expressed active interest in the programme.

Then yesterday the media’s attention was grabbed by reports that some Chinese persons had arrived in Malta to see about the opportunity. There were also photos taken of planes and of people waiting at the airport.

But before we get all caught up in the frenzy of speculation and stonewalling, let us ask ourselves a basic question or two: who could possibly be attracted to the idea of getting a Maltese passport without needing to come to Malta?

Let us try for starters to put ourselves in the shoes of a billionaire or a multi-millionaire. What could be the attraction that Malta could exert on such a person who could, at any time, fly to the US, reside in London or Paris, go skiing or attend Davos, or go hunting for lions in Africa, hide from view in a huge mansion lost in the US, etc?

Last week’s debate in the European Parliament brought up, many times, the possibility of an oligarch from Russia or a money-launderer, setting up shop in Malta and getting a Maltese passport. Let us examine this possibility: Malta today is bound by many international treaties regarding money laundering, the harbouring of criminals, that there are virtually no loopholes to protect a person resident in Malta from being sought for extradition by some other country. And having a Maltese passport without being a resident of Malta is no protection either.

Our tax regime is what it is: it is not particularly low for we would get negative international reactions as a tax haven just as, for example, Monaco gets. So one presumes that the would-be beneficiaries of the IIP would not be ones out to get a very favourable tax treatment.

Other than that, it would seem, at least as seen from this side, that the IIP scheme is attractive because it would offer accession to the Schengen border-free system which has its advantages of course but which is rather limited in scope. First of all it is not effective inside the whole EU: Britain, for instance, is outside it. And obviously it is not effective outside the EU.

It may thus be, we suggest and also ask, that for all the fierce debates that have been waging both here and in the European Parliament about IIP, and unless otherwise specified, the attractiveness of this scheme escape us.

Maybe the hypothetical former FI driver, the international pop star and the member of the Gulf royal family have seen what we still do not see. Or maybe they too are chimeras and just bubbles.