The EU must conduct an examination of Maltese "passport-for-money" schemes, writes Ukrainian journalist Tetiana Nikolayenko.
She underlines that Malta remains the only country that continues to provide "EU golden passport" (Individual Investor Program (IIP). Public organizations appealed to the Maltese authorities and the EU with a request to "stop passports sale to Russians", which Malta agreed, but the EU has taken Malta to court to halt the profit-making scheme.
IIP was run by Jonathan Cardona, a friend and associate of Chris Fearne, Malta's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health. Fearne worked for Minister for Energy and Health Konrad Mizzi, whom the US publicly banned him from entering for his "involvement in significant corruption". He was patronized by the Prime Minister of Malta Joseph Muscat, who was named "Person of the Year" in 2019 by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) due to the rise in crime and corruption in Malta.
Malta's National Audit Office criticized Fearne him for awarding a €163,000-a-year contract to his chief of staff (and, according to the local press, mistress) Carmen Ciantar, making her Malta's highest-paid official. Ciantar's daughter Celine, a graduate of the dental institute, was appointed to senior government positions from the student desk despite her lack of experience.
While Cardona was in charge of this program, members of the influential Leonid Levitin family received Maltese citizenship. List of people granted Maltese citizenship in 2016-2017 when Fearne was in charge of the program
Leonid Levitin is a brother of Igor Levitin, the former minister of transport of the Russian Federation, and Putin's assistant on transport and infrastructure. In the press are of reports about Igor Levitin's friendship with Vladimir Putin. Levitin is also responsible for relations with Iran, establishing a way to circumvent international sanctions through the supply of Iranian drones and missiles. The British press recently reported on Levitin's visits to Iran, where he arranged for the supply of Russian helicopters to pay the Shaheds.
Levitin’s Maltese citizenship is under closer scrutiny after a leaked bank transfer indicated that a certain Viacheslav Rezchikov – an Austria-based fixer and business partner of the Levitin family – transferred €3.2 million euros to the daughter of Carmen Ciantar, Celine, in November 2019. Celine had just graduated from the dental school and was waiting for an appointment to a government position, which was later given to her by Fearne.
In the same year a local journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia, who investigated the sale of Maltese passports to Russian oligarchs, was killed.
While the transfer itself took place in 2019, its ramifications could still play out today. Whether the money is still being spent or not, Kompromat on a close associate of the deputy prime minister of an EU state by the Kremlin gives the Russians a useful lever of influence, concludes Tetiana Nikolayenko in her article.