The Nationalist Party has accused government of wanting to increase secrecy when it comes to the sales of Maltese passports.

"Through a new Legal Notice that was published a few days before Christmas, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri gave himself the power to hold the names of persons who would have bought Maltese citizenship secret," the PN said.

If one looks back at certain cases, some people who bought Maltese citizenship were found to be accused or guilty of serious crimes, including money laundering, tax evasion, corruption and contraband, the party said.

The PN also noted that before the publication of the legal notice, the government had to publish a list of all persons who became Maltese citizens in the previous year, in this case 2019.

The PN was referring to this part of Legal Notice 458:

"The Minister shall every year publish in the Gazette the names of all the persons who within the previous twelve (12) calendar months  had  been  granted  Maltese  citizenship  by  registration  or naturalisation,  including  those  persons  who  were  granted  Maltese citizenship for exceptional services in accordance with the Granting of Citizenship for Exceptional Services Regulations: Provided that for reasons of security, the Minister may in his absolute discretion not publish the names of such persons."

This falls in contradiction with Article 24 of the Maltese Citizenship Act, they said.

The Opposition appealed for Minister Byron Camilleri and Parliamentary Secretary Alex Muscat to rigorously follow what the Maltese Citizenship Act states and publish all of the names.