Russian businessman Albert Avdolyan has been hit with EU sanctions on the Moscow war in Ukraine, but may partially bypass the block of the Block thanks to a malts passport that he bought under a “golden” visa scheme facing a European court that places its future this week.
Avdolyan, who received his passport in 2015, is one of the seven people who gained malteean citizenship and was later hit by US, EU or Ukrainian sanctions on Russia’s War in Ukraine, according to a number of Times based on names published in the country’s government newspaper and leaked documents.
Passport holders are among a larger group of 16 persons who successfully paid malice citizenship, despite being politically exposed individuals, or later appearing on the sanctions lists or convicted of crimes.
Malta is the last EU country that still offers citizenship for sale, withdrawing IRE from the European Commission, which has led the European Court of Justice to stop the scheme.
The commission has argued the scheme “undermines both the essence and integrity of EU citizenship”. The court is expected to rule on Tuesday.
Citizen or money settlement schemes have been common in Europe and Caribbean for decades, but have attracted criticism. When the United Kingdom removed her gold visas, she said the scheme had given “the opportunity for corrupt elites to enter the United Kingdom”. The European Commission has said such programs pose “significant risks, including corruption, money laundering and tax evasion”.
“Next to some insurance policy for some, it is a strategy for some. These schemes are very problematic for some reasons,” said Eka Rostomashvili of international transparency. “It opens the doors of the EU, so not just Malta’s doors.”
Rostomashvili said it was a “tendency” in Malta and other countries that offered money for citizenship that people would apply for passports “shortly before the sanctions were placed on them or shortly before a major scandal was broken and the criminal prosecutor would begin”.
People who buy maltese passports become EU citizens with the right to live within the block. They can easily open bank accounts and EU businesses, and travel to many other visa -free countries.
Applying for citizenship in 2014, Avdolyan praised “reliability, security, peace, tranquility, tranquility and pleasant people” of Malta.
Also among those who received Malsese passports were three individuals who were subsequently subject to American sanctions on the War in Ukraine, and three others sanctioned by Kyiv.
Sanked individuals include Evgeniya Vladimirovna Bernova, which the US accused of “fraud equipment) double use equipment that can be used for military purposes” in the name of recent Russian users “. SH.BA said it “had facilitated the export of equipment … to aim for the target users of government in Russia” by a malta -based company it operated.
Bernova said she had “acquired malteean citizenship in accordance with a careful careful process with the right level” and that she had “real links with Malta”, including a business she said was “current investment in Malta, and nothing illegal or hidden”. She said she had invested in film production on the island and also had “deeply personal reasons” to pursue citizenship.
Bernova said the order of sanctions was a “misunderstanding by the US authorities”.
At least one of the Maltese passports is then revoked.
In addition to later sanctioned or convicted people, those with paid citizenship for malts include political figures. The so -called politically exposed individuals are treated by regulators as a particular risk of corruption.
Three members of the Saudi Royal Family – Prince Khaled and his sons Bader and Mishal – obtained maltese passports. There was no immediate response to a request for comment from Prince Khaled and his family through their society.
The Maltese government also viewed a “Gilberto Eduardo Gerardo Cojuangco Theodoro” as a new citizen in 2016, the same name as the current secretary of the National Philippine Defense. A lawyer for Teodoro said he was not “neither a citizen of Malta nor the holder of a malts passport” but refused to comment on whether Teodoro had returned a passport since 2016.
No claim of corruption has been made against the Saudis or Theodoro.
The European Commission said: “EU values are not for sale. Investor citizenship schemes constitute a violation of EU law … They must be repealed.”
Malta requires applicants to make a single investment of at least € 600,000, either to buy or rent a property, donate € 10,000 for charity and live in the country for three years. Investment can be reduced to a single year for people who invest € 750,000.
Avdolyan, who owns coal and gas companies in Russia, said in his request that “as a businessman, keeping such a passport will help a lot with my regular trips to Europe and around the world.”
Avdolyan, the four children and whose wife also won malteerative passports, can still travel to Malta, despite being hit with EU sanctions for his businesses “providing a significant source of revenue” for the Russian government.
His sanctions lists indicate that he is “closely linked” to the Rostec state weapons giant.
Documents from the Private Company Henley & Partners, which were revealed in the project of reporting crime and organized corruption and shared with other media, show that Avdolyans took residence cards in 2014 and traveled to Malta four times in the coming year.
Henley designed and executed the “golden” passport system when it began in 2013.
Documents suggest that Avdolyans spent about two weeks in the country, supplying hotel and restaurant bills and private aircraft reservations as evidence. The properties they rented – including a “boutique apartment” in Sliema on the coast overlooking Valletta – were elected and managed by Henley, who paid rent each year and emptied the mailbox each month.
Identity Malta, the government body in charge of appriving applications, said “in principle” Avdolyan had met all 12 -month residence requirements in Malta. Avdolyan said “We refuse to make comments about the points shown.”
Paul Melnikov, a Russian millionaire, received a malteer passport in 2015 and a Passport from St Kitts and Nevis in 2012 with the help of Henley, the leaked data show.
In 2018, the Finnish authorities raided its properties in the Turkish Finnish archipelago. He was convicted of tax and accounting fraud in Finland in February. His citizenship for Malta has been revoked since then.
Melnikov is appealing the conviction and said he would challenge the revocation of his maltese passport, which he said happened “without legal reason”. His lawyer, Kai Kotirana, said: “Melnikov has denied all the wrong actions in Finland or elsewhere. He has taken his nationalities based on local legislation and purification, which is nothing new or non-normal.”
Melnikov said he had taken his maltese citizenship “just to be able to live and move through Europe, not to receive any tax deductions. Malsets were only legally taken, following all legal requirements, not through any criminal schemes.”
Another example is Semen Kuksov, who was imprisoned in the UK last year for criminal funding. The crown prosecutor’s office said the 24-year-old acted as a courier “to raise criminal money and give money laundering overseas”.
Among similar discoveries, Cyprus and Bulgaria abandoned passport sales programs under Brussels pressure. But the Malta government holds its scheme, arguing that it has strengthened proper care controls and banned Russian and Belarusian citizens from adopting its passports.
“What Malta has done is a kind of European Union hack,” said Matthew Caruana Galizia, from the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation. “We created this community in the EU, and now member states have begun to eat (away) in it.”
US President Donald Trump this year announced plans for a US $ 5 million “Gold Card”. In Europe, countries such as Portugal, Spain and Hungary still offer residence permits, but not passport.
The mother of Caruana Galizia Daphne, a journalist who discovered the back scheme of golden passports in Malta, was killed by a car bomb in 2017. Paul Caruana Galizia, her son, is now a FT reporter. The trial of two men accused of involvement in her murder began in Malta on Thursday.
The Maltese government did not respond to a request for comment.
Sarah Nicklin, spokeswoman for Henley & Partners, said she could not comment on individual cases due to lost information and data protection. She said that an individual “can pass all strict care of the proper care imposed, but still continues to be involved in criminal activities.”
She said that “Malta actually asked applicants to establish a place of residence and other current links with the country. Henley & Partners, at all times, has respected the laws and regulations in all the countries in which it operates.”
Henley, who previously received a fee from the Maltese government for any successful request, is now one of the many companies executing the program.
Matthew Caruana Galizia said improved care controls will not fix the scheme, as the problem was with people attracted to apply. “It is not with additional changes that (you can) stop … leaving bad people. More than the nature of the scheme itself,” he said.
Famillers are afraid that an ECJ decision in Malta’s favor can promote other countries such as Cyprus to revitalize or open such new schemes.
“If that happens, we will probably see a race to the end … in terms of standards, in terms of controls,” Rostomashvili says.
Additional reporting from Chris Cook in London, Richard Mille in Oslo, Poina Ivanova in Berlin and Ahmed Al Omran in Jeddah
