NGO Repubblika said on Monday that it never knowingly accepted a donation from someone who was buying Maltese citizenship.

The organization emphasised in a statement that it is against the sale of Maltese citizenship to foreigners, and any claim on the contrary is an attempt to discredit the fight against corruption.

“The report in question was published yesterday under the headline "Repubblika opposes the purchase of citizenship scheme yet accept donations anyway,”” the NGO said.

The article referred to a report on the newspaper Illum, and which was picked up by One News, alleging that Repubblika was one of those who received donations from persons who acquired a golden passport in the past months.

The report said that this came from information from the Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri when asked a parliamentary question by PN MP Graziella Galea this very week.

Camilleri had explained that the law entails that before the citizenship certificate is issued, the applicant is obliged to give a donation of no less than €10,000 towards an NGO or non-governmental society in the fields of philanthropy, culture, sport, science, animal welfare or art.

The report also alleged that aside from Repubblika, many other notable organisations have been benefiting from these donations, such as Moviment Graffitti, Din l-Art Helwa, Nature Trust, Birdlife Malta, Richmond Foundation and others.

Repubblika said it wishes to clarify that it is opposed to foreigners acquiring Maltese citizenship by purchase, as has been stated on several occasions.

Repubblika also clarified it does not know of any donation from anyone who has bought or is buying Maltese citizenship, and nobody who gave a donation to Repubblika ever told it that they were buying citizenship

“It is the government that requires those applying to purchase Maltese citizenship to declare donations to Maltese organizations.

“Repubblika has not been informed of any donation made as part of an application to purchase Maltese citizenship,” it said.

The NGO also said that it will be writing to the responsible Minister to ask whether anyone has declared a donation to Repubblika as part of an application to purchase Maltese citizenship, so that it can verify whether it has received such funds.

“We do not want to be associated in any way with the infamous sale of our citizenship,” Repubblika said.

Repubblika said that One News had contacted the NGO for their reaction, and and they asked them to read their statement on their news bulletin.

Repubblika then said that One News added a new lie to the story by reporting that the NGO did not answer their questions.

Moviment Graffitti have also issued a statement saying that they were “surprised” to see their name appear in the list mentioned by Minister Camilleri, but “confirm that they have not received any donation that indicates it was being made by an applicant of the golden passport scheme.”

“There were not even any donations – none at all – that were close to the €10,000 required by the passport scheme,” the statement read.

They further said that if someone gave them a donation related to this scheme, it was done without being declared to the organization.

“And if that is the case, it is a significant shortcoming on the part of the authorities that allowed golden passport scheme applicants to make these types of donations without declaring their purpose,” they said.

“Moviment Graffitti is against the golden passport scheme and does not want to accept donations that are used to meet the criteria of this criticized scheme.”