Maltese “golden” passports were sold to the Russians with Ukraine War links

Russian businessman Albert Avolyan has been affected by EU sanctions on the Moscow war in Ukraine, but can partially prevent the prohibition of block trips through a Maltese passport that he bought under a “ golden ” visa scheme that faces a sentence of a European court in his future this week.

Avolyan, who received his passport in 2015, is one of the seven people who acquired the citizenship maltess and later affected by North -American, UE or Ukrainian sanctions on the Russian War in Ukraine, according to a Financial Times account based on names published in the Gazette of the Country Government and filtered documents.

Passport holders are among a larger group of 16 people who successfully paid citizenship, despite being politically exposed people or who later appeared on the sanctions lists or were convicted of crimes.

Malta is the last EU country that still offers citizenship for sale, causing anger from the European Commission, which has brought the country to the European Court of Justice to try to stop the regime.

The commission has argued that the program “diminishes both the essence and the integrity of EU citizenship”. The court is expected to rule on Tuesday.

Schemes that offer citizenship or cash residence have been common in Europe and the Caribbean for decades, but have criticized. When the United Kingdom searched its golden visas, he said that the regime had given “opportunities for the corrupt elites to access the United Kingdom.” The European Commission has said that these programs are “important risks, such as corruption, money laundering and tax evasion.”

“It is an insurance policy for some, it is an output strategy for some … These schemes are very problematic for several reasons,” said Eka Rostomashvili de Transparency International. “Open the EU doors, so not just Malta doors.”

Rostomashvili said it was a “tendency” to Malta and other countries that offer cash for the citizenry that people would apply for passports “just before they put sanctions or just before a great scandal was broken and the criminal persecution began.”

People who buy Maltese passports become EU citizens with the right to live within the blog. They can easily open EU bank accounts and travel to many other countries without visa.

Applying the citizenry in 2014, Avolyan praised “reliability, security, peace, tranquility and pleasant people” of Malta.

Among those who received Maltese passports were three individuals subjected to US sanctions during the war in Ukraine and three others sanctioned by Kyiv.

Sanctioned individuals include Evgeniya Vladimirovna Bernova, which the United States accused of acquiring (ing) dual -use teams “that could be used for military purposes” in the name of Russian final users.

Bernova said he had “acquired citizenship maltess according to a due and multi-mild diligence process” and had “genuine bonds with Malta”, including a business that said it was a “real investment in Malta, and nothing illegal or hidden.” He said he had invested in film production on the island and also had “deeply personal reasons” to pursue citizenship.

Bernova said that the list of sanctions was “inadequate by the North -American authorities”.

Later he has revoked at least one of the Maltese passports.

In addition to the people later sanctioned or convicted, people with paid maltese citizenship also include political figures. Regulators are treated by regulators who have a risk of corruption.

Three members of the Saudi royal family, Prince Khaled and his children Bader and Mishaal, received Maltese passports. There was no immediate response to a comment request from Prince Khaled and his family through his company.

The Maltese government also looked at a “Gilberto Eduardo Gerardo Cojuangco Teodoro” as a new citizen in 2016, the same name as the current Secretary of National Defense of Philippines. Theodoro’s lawyer said he was not “a citizen of Malta or a Maltese passport”, but he refused to comment if Theodoro had returned a passport since 2016.

No corruption complaint has been made against the Saudis or Theodoro.

The European Commission said: “EU values ​​are not for sale. The citizens’ schemes of investors are a breach of the EU law … they should be abolished.”

Malta requires that the applicants make a unique investment of at least € 600,000, whether they are purchased or rent a property, give € 10,000 to charity and live in the country for three years. Investment can be reduced to a single year for people who invest € 750,000.

Avolyan, a owner of coal and gas companies in Russia, said in his request that “as a business man, the participation of a passport will help a lot with my regular trips to Europe and all over the world.”

Avolyan, the four children and his wife also acquired Maltese passports, can still travel to Malta, despite being affected by EU sanctions in February by their companies “providing a substantial source of income” to the Russian government.

Their lists of sanctions indicate that it is “closely associated” with the Giant of Rosec State Weapons.

The documents of the private company Henley & Partners, which were leaked to the organized crime and corruption project and shared with other media, show that the Avolyans received residence cards in 2014 and traveled to Malta four times the following year.

Henley designed and executed the “golden” passport system when it started in 2013.

The documents suggest that the Avolyans spent about two weeks in the country, providing invoices of hotels and restaurants and reserves of private JET as proof. The properties they rented, including a “boutique apartment” in Sliema on the coast overlooking Valletta, were selected and managed by Henley, who paid the income annually and emptied the monthly mailbox.

Identity Malta, the Government body in charge of passing the applications, said that “in principle” Avolyan had met all the requirements of the 12 -month residence in Malta. Avollyan said “we refuse to comment on the points indicated.”

Pavel Melnikov, a Russian millionaire, received a Maltese passport in 2015 and a St Kitts and Nevis passport in 2012 with the help of Henley, leaked the records.

In 2018, Finnish authorities attacked their properties in the Finnish archipelago of Turku. He was convicted of tax and accounting fraud in Finland in February. Since then, his citizenship has been revoked.

Melnikov calls for his sentence and said he would challenge the revocation of his Maltese passport, which he said “without legal reasons”. His lawyer, Kai Kotiranta, said: “Melnikov has denied any and every offense in Finland or elsewhere. He has obtained his nationalities based on local laws and authorizations, which is not new or normal.”

Melnikov said he had obtained his maltess citizenship “only to be able to live and move around Europe, to obtain no tax reduction. The Maltese passport was only legally obtained, following all legal requirements and not through a criminal scheme.”

Another example is the Kuksov semen, which was imprisoned in the United Kingdom last year to whiten criminal funds. The Crown Prosecutor’s Office Service said that the 24 -year -old acted as a messaging “to raise criminal money and deliver the money laundering abroad.”

In the midst of similar revelations, Cyprus and Bulgaria abandoned their passport sales programs under the pressure of Brussels. But the Malta government maintains its scheme, arguing that it has strengthened due diligence controls and has prevented Russian and Belarus citizens acquiring their passports.

“What Malta has done is a kind of piracy in the European Union,” said Matthew Caruana Galizia, of the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation. “We have created this statement in the EU, and now the Member States are starting to eat -Out).”

United States President Donald Trump has announced plans for a North -American Gold Card for $ 5 million this year. In Europe, countries like Portugal, Spain and Hungary still offer cash residence permits, but not passports.

Caruana Galizia’s mother, Daphne, a journalist who revealed the nascent Golden Passport Scheme in Malta, was killed by a car bomb in 2017. Paul Caruana Galizia, her son, is now a FT journalist. The trial of two men accused of participation in his assassination began on Thursday in Malta.

The Maltese government did not respond to a comment request.

Sarah Nicklin, a spokesman for Henley & Partners, said he could not comment on individual cases due to the missing information and data protection. He said that an individual “can have all the strict tests of due diligence imposed, but he continues to do criminal activities.”

He said that “Malta required the applicants to be established a place of residence and other real ties with the country … Henley & Partners has, at all times, been the laws and regulations of all the countries where he operates.”

Henley, who previously received a Maltese government rate for each successful application, is now one of the many companies that execute the program.

Matthew Caruana Galizia said that improving due diligence would not solve the regime, as the problem was with the people attracted to applying. “It’s not with incremental changes that (you can) stop … letting the bad ones enter. It has more to do with the nature of the scheme itself,” he said.

Campaigns fear that an ECJ ruling in favor of Malta could light other countries like Cyprus to resuscitate or open new schemes.

“If this happens, we will probably see a race in the background … in terms of rules, in terms of checks,” says Rostomashvili.

Additional Chris Cook reports in London, Richard Milne in Oslo, Polina Ivanova in Berlin and Ahmed in the Omran in Jeddah