• Three-quarters of Maltese respondents say the government is not doing enough to tackle climate change.
• Environment and climate are regularly among the top 5 concerns for Maltese people and the 4th-highest concern for young people.
• 35% of people in Malta reported exposure to pollution in 2023 — the highest share in the EU.
• Between mid-2023 and mid-2024, Malta recorded the fastest-growing emissions in the EU. Malta has negotiated its 2030 emissions target down to 19% — less than half the EU’s 40% commitment.
• The government has set up the Climate Action Authority, but its impact remains negligible.
• Malta is the highest proportionate spender on fossil fuel subsidies in the EU, projected at €172 million in 2026.
• Effective protection of natural spaces and enforcement of environmental law are lacking.

Do voters actually care about the environment?

Yes – and consistently – if surveys are the measure to go by. EU-wide surveys put the environment and climate change among the top five concerns for Maltese people.

A 2022 Ernst & Young survey of Maltese found that 93% of young people believe the environment is getting worse. Nearly half of millennials and 40% of Gen Z see it as a major challenge. 

But what do people want? More greenery and less traffic, according to a 2024 survey of children and adolescents.

Maltese respondents say they are ready to sacrifice EU competitiveness to fight climate change, and half are ready to pay more for climate-friendly agricultural products. 

In a 2024 survey, when asked about climate adaptation priorities, two in five Maltese called for tree-lined streets or green spaces to cool urban areas. 

Failing to address the environment can have a devastating impact on Malta’s reputation and industries that rely on it. 

“If people come to the island and they think it’s dirty, full of rubbish and so on, they won’t come,” tourism researcher Marie Avellino told Amphora Media in our short-lets investigation.

How much does Malta spend on the environment? 

Before the last general election, the environment held its own dedicated ministerial portfolio. Since 2022, however, it has been folded into Miriam Dalli’s expansive super-ministry covering Energy, Environment, and Public Cleanliness.

The ministry commands one of the largest budgets in government, with projected annual expenditure of €470 million in 2026. 

The Ministry has also been the largest spender on direct orders and has maintained an uncompetitive public procurement system since Robert Abela became Prime Minister in 2020.

The United Equipment Co (UNEC) Ltd, part of Bonnici Group, was the top beneficiary, receiving over €32.2 million in direct orders for power generation, infrastructural works, industrial supplies, equipment procurement and more.

The Ministry’s single largest outlay is the Energy Support Measures – subsidies designed to shield households and businesses from rising global energy prices – projected at €172 million for 2026, following an actual spend of €183 million in 2024. 

In total, energy support measures will cost Malta €968 million by the end of the year.

Actual expenditure for 2022: €234,189,597
Actual expenditure for 2023: €227,178,199 
Actual expenditure for 2024: €183,200,785
Approved estimate for 2025: €152,000,000 
Estimate for 2026: €172,000,000

This is proportionately more than any other EU country spends and is, alone, one of the largest items in the entire government budget. The EU’s Council has urged the government to “wind down” the subsidies.

The second-largest expense is the Solid Waste Management Strategy at roughly €41 million, followed by €23 million allocated to the feed-in tariff, which compensates households for solar energy sold back to the grid.

On the purely environmental side, the largest line item is the Environment and Resources Authority, whose projected 2026 operating budget is €21.8 million – a notable drop from the €24.4 million spent the year before.

Is climate change treated as an emergency?

Officially, yes. Malta’s parliament unanimously declared a climate emergency in 2019. However, actions have been limited to the creation of the Climate Action Authority (CAA) in October 2024.

An Amphora Media fact-check uncovered that the CAA’s claims that “Malta [was] at the forefront of planning for climate change adaptation” lacked substance and were false. 

Despite its booming economy, Malta lags behind most EU countries in key sustainable development metrics. Meanwhile, commitments are unambitious: the EU has committed to a 40% emissions reduction by 2030, but Malta negotiated its commitment down to only 19%. 

Malta was absent from the Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels conference, where the so-called High Ambition Coalition convened to design measures to address climate change in the absence of UN-level consensus.

Malta is currently ranked 34th out of 63 countries in the Climate Change Performance Index, with the implementation of climate policies rated “poor”. 

Between mid-2023 and mid-2024, Malta recorded the fastest-growing emissions in the EU.  It should be noted that international aviation and maritime transport emissions, important in the Maltese economy, are excluded from calculations.

Flight intensity, cruise liner arrivals, and Malta’s maritime registry – and the pollution that comes with them – have also grown. Malta currently has the largest registry of superyachts in the world and a growing airline registry that includes Ryanair aircraft. Ryanair calls itself “Malta’s No. 1 Airline”.

Meanwhile, an Amphora Media’s investigation revealed that only one in 11 cruise ship calls plugged into shore-to-ship power despite its availability. 

Has Project Green actually greened Malta?

In response to environmental concerns, the government established  Project Green, which aims to protect nature and create accessible green spaces. 

As of October 2024, Project Green said it would be working on 118 projects within different localities. When asked by Amphora Media for a full list in April 2025, Project Green provided a list of 46 projects. 

This year, it has launched public consultation calls for public park works at Manoel Island, Fort Campbell and White Rocks.

Our 2025 analysis showed that a fifth of Project Green’s planning applications included car parks, while a majority of projects fell within the constituencies of Minister Miriam Dalli and Prime Minister Robert Abela.

Beyond that, the Maltese government also diverted nearly 12% of EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funding to Project Green, with no clear benefits to farmers.

Is Malta becoming cleaner?

In 2023, more than a third of people (35%) in Malta reported exposure to pollution, grime, and other environmental problems. This is the highest share in the EU and nearly three times the EU average of 12%. According to the report, high-earning households were more affected than low-earning ones.

Malta still relies heavily on landfilling, while a proposed waste-to-energy incinerator remains what it has been since its announcement in 2017: a proposal. Concerns have also been raised over its potential effectiveness.

In 2024, Circular Economy Malta, a government agency, introduced a scheme to encourage shops to offer discounts or other benefits to users who bring their own containers. The agency claims that this initiative has successfully prevented the use of 63,524 single-use containers – 87% of them were detergent containers. The take-up in other sectors proved lagging.

Is the government protecting nature or hunters?

Hunting and trapping remain a hot-button issue for many Maltese. However, both the PL and the PN have often failed to take action against the practices, amid allegations that they are afraid to take on the 10,000-strong FKNK and risk losing votes.

Malta has been subject to infringement proceedings over bird trapping. Yet the government has regularly changed the rules to ensure that trappers are granted a scientific derogation to continue the practice. 

Our fact-check showed that trapping has not produced scientifically useful research. The government has still issued a €7,500 direct order to FKNK to carry out ‘scientific’ bird ringing (read more about direct orders).

Pledges for constitutional protection – either for hunters or the environment, as the PL and PN have done respectively – are non-enforceable in court, and penalties are mild, despite proposals from both the PN and PL.

Another Amphora Media fact-check showed that the government had not used cultural heritage tools for that purpose. Hobbies such as fireworks, hunting, trapping, and shooting have not been added to Malta’s inventory of intangible heritage.

PL’s 2022 electoral manifesto had something for nature and heritage lovers too: it promised “green networks” for ramblers, hikers and “all those who visit the Maltese countryside.”  It is not clear how a network would be defined.

Amphora Media spoke to Ingram Bondin, the president of Ramblers’ Association of Malta to check up on the status of the network.

“It’s not ready, by any means, and it was a very slow process,” he said, praising Ambjent Malta for maintaining existing trails but pointing out that there is no network to speak of.

“[To move forward] you have to identify the sites that you really want the public to visit, and you have to break some eggs. For example, we have very beautiful sites that are becoming inaccessible as large landowners buy up everything. So if you want to give the public access to some of the most beautiful sites in Malta, you will have to challenge this.”

Bondin says that there is a lot of appetite for walkable spaces as people want “to relieve themselves from the construction, and the general chaotic environment of the towns”.

Are Malta’s seas ignored in the environmental conversation?

The sea is arguably Malta’s only wilderness. The EU’s Biodiversity Strategy sets a target of protecting 30% of the EU’s seas, and members of Malta’s government say the country is protecting about a third of its waters. Does it mean that the target has been achieved?

Our fact-check showed that this was another misleading claim. 

Malta has indeed designated marine Natura 2000 sites. These are not nature reserves – human activities such as fishing and tourism are allowed, as long as protected species remain in good condition. But Malta has a vast marine territory, of which it protects only under 10%. 

Even some protected areas are criss-crossed by heavy vessel traffic, alongside pressures from fishing, pollution and water sports.

Manoel Island: was the promise fulfilled?

Malta’s government has re-acquired Manoel Island from MIDI in a €47.3 million deal, ahead of a €50 million bond repayment deadline in July 2026.

It was seen as a major win for activists, after a long-standing complaint seeking to rescind Manoel Island from the MIDI concession due to numerous breaches. 

MIDI had claimed to have lost 10 years due to archaeological excavations on the two sites included in the concession, including when cemeteries were found. However, Amphora Media’s fact-check showed that the delays were not entirely outside MIDI’s control.

The deal has come at a hefty price, paid for with taxpayers’ money.

Project Green has since launched a call for the public to submit ideas for Manoel Island, alongside two other sites. The page for this consultation is now a dead link, and no summary of responses has been published.

Meanwhile, the Planning Authority’s case officer recommended granting permission to Sharlon Pace on behalf of Gzira United Football Club to sanction illegal padel courts on the island.

What to watch for:

Among Amphora Media’s 16 published fact-checks, five concerned environmental topics. Many propaganda claims continue to circulate, incorrectly claiming that Malta is a “leader” in climate change policy while politicians promise more fossil fuel extraction and processing.

But while many voters may not be thinking about the grand scheme of climate change, there are issues closer to home: polluted air, waste, declining biodiversity and urban heat.

Are political parties going to admit that the current system is not failing to protect nature? Will anyone dare to name the actors accountable for it – developers, environmental crime perpetrators and polluters?

By law, Malta’s Electoral Commission is an autonomous body. In practice, its members include the sister of a sitting Minister, party activists, and former party presidents – appointed through a process jointly controlled by the two parties it is meant to supervise.

Smaller parties and election observers have criticised the system as exclusionary and lacking true independence.

“The Electoral Commission privileges the two [main] parties,” ADPD Chairperson Sandra Gauci told Amphora Media.

“Unfortunately, the bigger developers dominate the parties. (…) So if you just have an organism like an Electoral Commission, which is just made up of the two parties, there is obviously a big deficiency, right?”Momentum party’s chairperson, Arnold Cassola, explained.

In response to Amphora Media’s questions, the Electoral Commission replied that it is “established in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Malta” and “operates in accordance with the Laws of Malta as enacted by Parliament”. In other words, the situation is calcified by legislation.

The Electoral Commission counts votes, publishes election results and campaign expenses, reviews electoral division boundaries, and can initiate suspending an election if it alleges illegal or corrupt practices. The documents in its possession are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

Amphora Media analysed the Electoral Commission’s performance over time and its key controversies, speaking to representatives of Malta’s smaller parties to map out the gaps in the country’s democratic process.

“The Partit Nazzjonalista is always open for discussion to enhance our electoral system. This discussion should not be limited to political parties but to wider society in general,” PN’s representative wrote in response.

PN-PL Loyalists Dominate The Electoral Commission

Members of the Electoral Commission are appointed for three years by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister, who consults with the Leader of the Opposition.

Under Malta’s decades-long political duopoly, this effectively means that only the dominant parties can significantly influence the institution’s make-up.

The appointments include Veronique Dalli, the sister ofEnergy Minister Miriam Dalli, and a former legal co-contractor of MP Edward Zammit Lewis. Both Miriam Dalli (Districts 5 and 11) and Zammit Lewis (Districts 8 and 9) contested the 2022 general election.

The current members of the Electoral Commission are:

The Electoral Commission itself does not publish its members’ partisan affiliations.

“The criteria generally used [for the nomination] are to ensure there are individuals with experience in the electoral process and knowledge of electoral law,” PN’s representative commented on the party’s nomination process.

Gauci of ADPD recounts how her party tried to take the Electoral Commission to the Constitutional Court in 2022 over bias towards large parties.

“We’ve lost, we’ve appealed, and we’ve lost again. And to be honest, the reasons given were very – how can I say it – flaky, little to do with what we proposed and what we put forward in front of the magistrate. It’s a system which favours the duopoly, all of it,” she told Amphora Media. The Constitutional Court dismissed the appeal, affirming that constitutional articles are equal and cannot conflict with each other.

International observers noted that Electoral Commission members and delegates are limited to parliamentary parties. 

“The limiting of EC members and delegates to representatives of the parliamentary parties further engrains two-party dominance and excludes smaller parties from the electoral institutions,” OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) said in a report on the 2022 general election.

Drawing and redrawing boundaries: Over 24,000 relocations in districts in 2025

Electoral boundaries are redefined to reflect shifts in population. In 2025, around 24000 voters were relocated, following a proposal by the Electoral Commission that was passed by Parliament (with 41 government MPs in support and 31 opposition MPs opposing the change).

*Gozo and Comino must be treated as a single district and may not be divided irrespective of population size.

The now-approved proposal drew criticism from PN MPs, who claimed that revisions are splitting traditional party strongholds, which could weaken the opposition.

The Opposition did table a counter proposal, written and signed by five electoral commissioners: Melanie Azzopardi, Ian Micallef, Marion Portelli, Victor Scerri, and Angelito Sciberras. 

In it, they criticised many of the proposed changes – and warned against changes to the electoral boundaries that were “superficial and arbitrary”.

“The revision needs to be serious, transparent, and respectful of the importance of the locality cohesion,” the document reads.

“For the Labour Government, the revision of electoral districts is nothing more than a mathematical exercise to reach the required numbers to form a district. […] The spirit of the proposals always put forward by the Partit Nazzjonalista was that there should be as little splitting as possible,” PN’s representative told Amphora Media.

“The Electoral Commission is five against four, so the party in government will decide the boundaries as it suits itself; they make these enormous somersaults just to suit the governing party,” Cassola explained.

Gauci of ADPD said that the district setup is limiting for small parties. It also encourages privileging one’s own district in various domains of power:

“Hiring, direct orders, even skipping the queue when it comes to going to Mater Dei – they manage to privilege these people through being a little bit too cosy with certain ministers. (…) That is something which helps certain people have more privileges than others.”

“We’re living in a society in which the common good isn’t so important. So in a way, you have to bend to appease these people,” she told Amphora Media.

Voter registration and vote counting

Vote counting should be the most straightforward process. For the 2022 general election, the Electoral Commission’s total budget was €6,634,850 – of that, €116,253 was spent on the electronic counting project. 

However, voting eligibility and counting methodologies have not been without controversy either.

Recent controversy concerns voter registrations linked to social housing in  Siggiewi during Roderick Galdes’ tenure as housing minister. In 2024, a series of cases, initiated by the PN and represented by Michael Piccinino, resulted in rulings that several voters had been incorrectly registered at addresses where they did not ordinarily reside.

During this time, Galdes promised upgrades to social housing estates for 500 families. Siggiewi is in the district where Galdes was elected.

The court ordered that corrections be made to register the voters at their ordinary residence. However, the police are yet to take any criminal action.

“The Nationalist Party has won all the appeals, 99 in total, regarding the electoral fraud organised by the Ministry of Roderick Galdes,” PN politician Michael Piccinino, who initiated these cases, wrote on Facebook in reaction.

“Overall, it’s also exposed the Labour Party’s manoeuvring when it comes to trying to take advantage in order to gain electoral gain, even when it’s against the law,” Piccinino commented to Amphora Media. The Labour Party had requested intervention in these cases,  which under Maltese law means a third party, originally not included in the case, can become an extra defendant.

In 2019, the PN alleged that the electronic vote-counting system raised concerns about its reliability, while the Electoral Commission defended its accuracy and integrity. 

“The concerns were raised during the discussions on the introduction of the system. (…) The PN approved the new system only after the necessary changes were made to ensure a fair system,” the PN’s representative explained.

Later, in 2022, PN took the Electoral Commission to court over instances of some prisoners , including those with 10-year or longer sentences, being allowed to vote. The Court rejected the request for lack of jurisdiction, ruling that the law requires such challenges to be made through the Revising Officer before an election to correct the register.

 “We are happy to note that following this court case, the Electoral Commission has taken steps to ensure that cases like this would not be needed in the future,” PN’s representative said.

Vote counting on election days is less than smooth for small parties.

Gauci said that her party had to “fight tooth and nail” to get access to real-time voting counts through the Electoral Commission’s laptops. 

Cassola, too, pointed out that PL and PN members receive voting updates every five minutes, while smaller parties are excluded from the process. When he was running for the European Parliament Elections, he had to learn the interim results from journalists.

This is acknowledged in the ODIHR report on the 2022 elections in Malta. 

“The limited access to the activities of the EC for the public and some contestants, as well as the lack of regulations allowing for citizen and international observation, diminished the transparency of the process,” ODIHR concluded, adding that it had previously issued recommendations on election observation, but they were not adopted.

ODIHR has criticised the lack of transparency in the way this structure makes decisions – minutes and records of decision-making processes, if any, are not published, which is “not in line with international standards”.

Scrutiny of electoral financing

Political parties must submit annual audited accounts to the Electoral Commission and comply with donation and financial disclosure rules.

ODIHR’s recommendations, which included “providing the Electoral Commission with adequate powers and resources to carry out a proactive and efficient supervision, investigation and enforcement of political finance regulations”, have not been implemented.

Momentum party’s founder, Arnold Cassola, says that “PN-PL nominees are supposed to supervise the finances of all parties, but now, for the past seven years, it is a completely abandoned ship.”

He refers to a court case brought by the PN, which argued that the Electoral Commission’s powers to investigate, adjudicate, and fine for breaches violated fair trial rights. The Constitutional Court ruled that the administrative fines were punitive and “criminal” in nature, thus requiring a “court” rather than the Electoral Commission to judge them.

“[The Electoral Commission] is not a fair judge, according to the Constitutional Court. (…) So there’s no control over financing, which is a big joke, because the parties play this game where they have these [donation] marathons, and then in one day they get half a million, and you don’t have to say who gave you the money,” Cassola explained.

In contrast, Cassola recalled how his party treasurer received a call because the Electoral Commission could not find a receipt for a 25-euro donation. 

“I think that was ridiculous, when you have these millions that the PN and especially the Labour Party today are getting from hidden sources, from business people, from developers in particular”.

Gauci of ADPD also feels that the Electoral Commission scrutinises her party more than the larger parties.

“We’re very careful with our accounts. (…) We self-finance our campaign. (…) We don’t accept money from developers because we believe that they are destroying our country,” she said.

“There should be an independent body that supervises elections and that decides who is a party, who is not, and who oversees the finances of the parties, not the Electoral Commission, since it is just made up of two parties,” Cassola argues.

In 2022, Cassola wrote to the Electoral Commission, raising concerns about unequal treatment of smaller parties and independents, calling for equal access to the counting hall, access to information during the count, and improved communication arrangements, including access to facilities such as Wi-Fi. 

He notes that the Electoral Commission addressed the Wi-Fi complaint.

• Ian Abdilla and Brian Paul Camilleri testified in the case involving Raymond Aquilina, Yorgen Fenech, and notary Mario Bugeja on the 24th of April.
• Abdilla recounted how he was instructed not to hand an FIAU report concerning Melvin Theuma to Raymond Aquilina, who was in charge of the investigation.
• An appointment set up for Abdilla and Aquilina to meet Fenech was aborted abruptly.
• The investigation was being delayed by difficulties in obtaining information from abroad.

A court has heard today how the then Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar specifically ordered that a sensitive financial report be kept hidden from a lead investigator in 2018. 

Testifying in the proceedings against former Superintendent Raymond Aquilina, Yorgen Fenech, and notary Mario Bugeja, the former lead of the police’s Economic Crimes Unit, Ian Abdilla, recounted how Cutajar directly ordered him to bypass Aquilina.

Fenech stands accused of money laundering and complicity in the corruption of a public officer, while Aquilina is facing charges of corruption, leaking official secrets, money laundering and perjury. Both men, together with notary Mario Bugeja who is also charged with money laundering, have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

“Deep discomfort”

Abdilla told Magistrate Lara Lanfranco on Friday that he was instructed to personally retrieve a Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) report concerning Melvin Theuma. According to Abdilla, Cutajar was explicit: the report was for his eyes only, and he was “not to hand it to Raymond Aquilina”.

Abdilla said that Cutajar’s order caused him deep “discomfort” as Aquilina was officially responsible for the anti-money laundering section of the Economic Crimes Unit. Abdilla testified that he repeatedly challenged the commissioner on the matter at the time, insisting that if there was a lack of trust in Aquilina, he should be removed from his post entirely. 

It emerged in court today that Aquilina had maintained a personal relationship with Fenech that was never officially declared. Abdilla testified that he later found out about the relationship through the media. 

The tension reached a breaking point just days before the high profile raid on Melvin Theuma, when Aquilina allegedly revealed intimate knowledge of the suspect’s medical history, claiming that Theuma was undergoing cancer treatment. The detail left Abdilla questioning how a sidelined investigator possessed such specific intelligence.

A cancelled meeting

The internal friction within the Economic Crimes Unit coincided with critical moments in the 17 Black Investigation, which officially began when the police opened the file in March 2018. Abdilla testified that after a newspaper report identified Yorgen Fenech as the owner of the mysterious UAE-registered company, he insisted on questioning the businessman immediately. 

At that point, disclosure laws had recently been introduced, requiring the police to challenge suspects under interrogation on the basis of evidence. Despite only having an FIAU report in hand – official bank documents had not yet been received from abroad – Abdilla argued that the public allegations were enough to warrant an interrogation. 

According to the testimony, an appointment was set up for Abdilla and Aquilina to meet Fenech at his own office, as instructed by then Deputy Police Commissioner Silvio Valletta. Abdilla believes that this meeting was arranged by Raymond Aquilina. 

However, the interrogation never took place. 

As the police team was driving toward the meeting, specifically as they approached the traffic lights near Paceville, they received a phone call informing them that Fenech “couldn’t speak to us because he was sick”. The meeting was aborted and Fenech was not arrested until much later, the witness said. 

While the financial probe into 17 Black stalled as Europol and Interpol requested rogatory letters, leading to the opening of a magisterial inquiry in September 2018, the Economic Crimes Unit was simultaneously navigating multiple investigations. Abdilla revealed that investigators were under “intense” pressure to move against Melvin Theuma, who was under investigation for financial crimes. 

Despite this pressure, Abdilla said that he and investigator Nicholas Vella, Aquilina’s subordinate, reportedly resisted a premature arrest. They argued that the FIAU report into Theuma’s activities, which they held at the time, was insufficient on its own to sustain his arrest. They insisted on waiting a few more weeks to gather more concrete evidence.

International scope

The scope of the investigation extended beyond Theuma and Fenech. The 17 Black investigation, which Aquilina was officially leading, included a list of high-profile “persons of interest,” including former Minister Konrad Mizzi, Keith Schembri, Karl Cini, and Brian Tonna. 

To track the flow of money, the police had to engage in a lengthy international process, requesting rogatory letters, signed off by the presiding magistrate Charmaine Galea, to be sent to authorities in the UAE, Latvia, and Panama to track Fenech’s accounts. Abdilla confirmed that while some of these requests were successful, the investigation was often hindered by the requirement for formal translations and the refusal of foreign countries to share intelligence without official judicial requests. 

A question raised during the testimony concerned the official letters sent to the UAE to track one of Fenech’s accounts linked to 17 Black. Abdilla confirmed that there had been a “mistake” in some of these letters, for which Aquilina was responsible. When questioned by the prosecution, Abdilla admitted he was unsure if the error was a “genuine mistake or intentional”.

The court heard that Raymond Aquilina eventually handed over the 17 Black investigation files in April 2020 to inspectors Brian Paul Camilleri and Keith Vella.

Inspector Brian Paul Camilleri, a financial crimes investigator with the police and the lead investigator on this case, also took the witness stand on Friday. He confirmed the chronology of the investigation and the succession of investigators involved in the case.

The investigation, published in March 2025, exposed the inner workings of two massive investment fraud networks operating out of call centres in Israel, Eastern Europe, and Georgia. Amphora Media’s contribution focused on Malta’s role in the scheme, revealing how Maltese-registered companies, OpenPayd, were key in transferring funds extracted from victims.

Drawing on an unprecedented leak of nearly two terabytes of data — thousands of hours of recorded calls, screen recordings, and internal spreadsheets — the reporting team documented how at least 32,000 people across the globe were deceived into handing over approximately €230 million in fraudulent “investments.”

More recently, two Turkish companies owned by Ozan Özerk, the founder of OpenPayd, were under investigation for facilitating the laundering of criminal assets.  This company is not under investigation in Türkiye.

Cristian Lupșa, Chair of the Preparatory Committee of the European Press Prize, said: “What stood out again this year is the quality of journalism being produced across Europe, in newsrooms large and small, often under pressure and with limited resources. The range of entries reflects something important: all stories have a place here, from large cross-border collaborations to deeply reported local pieces that matter enormously to the communities they serve. What these stories show, collectively, is that journalism still holds space for complexity, for context, and for human experience. It remains a source of understanding, accountability, and, in many ways, hope.”

You can read the full investigation here.

For years, the number of money-laundering prosecutions in Malta remained relatively modest. Figures tabled in parliament by Jonathan Attard, in response to questions from Adrian Delia, show that in 2018, only 12 individuals were charged, rising slightly to 14 in 2019. 

By 2024, however, that number had surged to 116 individuals across 44 cases – the highest level on record. In 2025, the figure dropped, falling to 61 individuals across 37 cases.

The shift came after Malta was placed on the FATF grey list in June 2021. Malta was removed from the list in June 2022 following rapid reforms. The FATF’s recommendations focused on the transparency of ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs), the effectiveness of anti-money laundering controls, and tax evasion investigations.

In 2020, standalone money-laundering cases were more common (27). However, cases accompanied by a predicate offence – which is the separate criminal act that generated the illicit funds – have increased. 

In 2021, cases accompanied by predicate offences were 87, up from just 1 in the previous year. By 2024, 114 cases were tied to predicate offences. In 2025, that number was 61. 

The Minister’s breakdown of predicate offences identifies fraud as the primary driver of money laundering proceedings, accounting for 77 instances.

This is followed closely by: Misappropriation (39), Aggravated drug possession (17), Corruption (13), Drug Trafficking (12), Tax Evasion (11) and Organised Crime (11).

Just as these complex, multi-charge cases peak, Malta has enacted Bill 142, which introduces a formal mechanism for out-of-court settlements for breaches of Malta’s tax laws and related crimes.

The bill was introduced and approved over 12 days in August 2025. It was tabled in Parliament on the same day as Bills 143 and 144, two parts of a controversial planning reform package that has since dominated public discourse and sparked protests.

So far, lawyer Aron Mifsud Bonnici, car dealer Christian Borg, and accountants Nigel and Mikaela Scerri have used the settlement mechanism in their respective million-euro tax-evasion and money-laundering proceedings.

Malta already has a significant problem with uncollected taxes. Official figures show that as of 2024, Malta has accumulated over €8 billion in uncollected tax, €6.1 billion in VAT and €2 billion in other taxes. The government has written off over €6.6 billion of that figure.

Under this framework, taxpayers may enter into agreements with the Commissioner for Tax and Customs to regularise tax offences by paying penalties and outstanding dues, thereby avoiding criminal prosecution for the offences covered by the settlement.

The mechanism also applies to certain “connected breaches” and predicate offences, linked to the tax offence, such as money laundering and fraud.

It is already being implemented. In reply to a series of parliamentary questions by MP Adrian Delia, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana confirmed that the Malta Tax and Customs Administration (MTCA) has received several applications under the new law and is currently processing them. 

This will apply to all the 11 cases of tax evasion listed – and a host of other ongoing cases, including a €62 million VAT carousel fraud case.

The pair, who are accountants behind the firm Ennesse,  were arraigned in January 2025 after authorities reportedly discovered a €1.5 million discrepancy in their tax and VAT declarations. 

Around €15 million of their assets – spread across 15 companies – were placed under a freeze order, while a court reportedly declared there was enough prima facie evidence for them to stand trial in February 2025.

Nigel and Mikaela Scerri chose not to comment on the outcome when contacted by Amphora Media.

The Scerris are the latest to make use of a new legal mechanism introduced under Bill 142. These include: Christian Borg, a car dealer with ties to Prime Minister Robert Abela, charged in a  €1.4 million tax evasion and money laundering case; and Aron Mifsud Bonnici, a lawyer and former advisor of Konrad Mizzi, charged in a 1.6 million case and who is separately facing charges in the Vitals Hospitals case.

Under this framework, taxpayers may enter into agreements with the Commissioner for Tax and Customs to regularise tax offences by paying penalties and outstanding dues, thereby avoiding criminal prosecution for the offences covered by the settlement.

The mechanism also applies to certain “connected breaches” and predicate offences, linked to the tax offence, such as money laundering and fraud.

It is being implemented elsewhere. In reply to a series of parliamentary questions by MP Adrian Delia, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana confirmed that the Malta Tax and Customs Administration (MTCA) has received several applications under the new law and is currently processing them. 

The law could also have significant implications for a major tax fraud investigation involving a VAT carousel. 

In 2023, it was reported that Martin Farrugia and Henriette Cassar were accused of defrauding the VAT system, allegedly to the tune of around €62 million.

The investigation, known as Operation Panthera, reportedly covers the period 2012–2019 and encompasses companies linked to the contractor (including NCCF, MAM Construction Ltd, and MWF Construction Ltd), which are said to have under-declared substantial sales and VAT payable.

The pair have pleaded not guilty, and the case is ongoing. Amphora Media has been informed that the police are aware of businesses involved in the scheme, but all have so far evaded prosecution. 

Amphora Media has reached out to the police over the issue.

Lawyers close to the case informed Amphora Media that the settlement agreement was presented to the courts on 27th March, thereby extinguishing the current criminal proceedings against him. 

Mifsud Bonnici was accused of money laundering, tax evasion and making false declarations in documents prepared for the Malta Tax and Customs Administration (MTCA). In July 2025, a court declared that there was enough prima facie evidence for him to stand trial.

More than €1.6 million of Mifsud Bonnici’s assets were frozen in a court order as part of the case on 23rd July 2025.

Mifsud Bonnici is an associate of former minister Konrad Mizzi and is separately facing criminal charges related to the Vitals Hospital case. 

He served as legal advisor in former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s government, an advisor in the Ministry for Energy under Konrad Mizzi, which involved discussions on the Montenegro Wind Farm Project, was the board secretary at Enemalta, and was on the Grievances Board at Transport Malta.

According to a Times of Malta investigation, the probe into Mifsud Bonnici began following a series of large transfers worth €1.4 million to XNT Limited, a Malta-based investment firm.

Financial documents seen by Times of Malta indicated that Mifsud Bonnici received payments of over €2.4 million into his personal bank accounts between 2016 and 2019. However, during those same four years, Mifsud Bonnici declared a total income of €680,000.

A separate Times of Malta investigation also revealed how Aron Mifsud Bonnici and Robert Borg raked in over half a million euros in “dividends” and “directors’ fees” from two companies involved in the publicly funded community work scheme.

In the current case, Mifsud Bonnici used a formal mechanism for out-of-court settlements of breaches of Malta’s tax laws and related crimes, introduced by Bill 142.

Under this framework, taxpayers may enter into agreements with the Commissioner for Tax and Customs to regularise tax offences by paying penalties and outstanding dues, thereby avoiding criminal prosecution for the offences covered by the settlement.

The mechanism also applies to certain “connected breaches” and predicate offences, linked to the tax offence, such as money laundering and fraud.

It is being implemented elsewhere. In reply to a series of parliamentary questions by MP Adrian Delia, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana confirmed that the Malta Tax and Customs Administration (MTCA) has received several applications under the new law and is currently processing them. 

The law could also have significant implications for a major tax fraud investigation involving a VAT carousel. 

In 2023, it was reported that Martin Farrugia and Henriette Cassar were accused of defrauding the VAT system, allegedly to the tune of around €62 million.

The investigation, known as Operation Panthera, reportedly covers the period 2012–2019 and encompasses companies linked to the contractor (including NCCF, MAM Construction Ltd, and MWF Construction Ltd), which are said to have under-declared substantial sales and VAT payable.

The pair have pleaded not guilty, and the case is ongoing. Amphora Media has been informed that the police are aware of businesses involved in the scheme, but all have so far evaded prosecution. 

Amphora Media has reached out to the police over the issue.

In December 2025, Farrugia was approved a variation to his freezing order to transfer four leopards and four pumas to the Pafos Zoo in Cyprus.

Another case impacted by the legislation involves Nigel Scerri and his wife, Mikaela, the owners of a tax advisory and accountancy firm. The pair have been charged with money laundering, tax evasion, fraud, and other crimes, and are subject to a €15 million asset freeze.

The transactions form part of a series of asset sales tied to the Tigné Point and Manoel Island concession to redeem a €50 million secured bond issued in June 2016.

Between December 2025 and February 2026, MIDI, entered into three promise of sale agreements worth more than €18 million on Tigne land to: 

• A firm owned by Burak Başel, a Cypriot businessman in business with alleged Albanian organised crime figures (€10.2 million)
• A Panamanian company owned by Zamir Magomedovich Abdullaev(€5.5 million)
• And another with Gozitan developer Joseph Portelli, which has since been rescinded. (€2.5 million)

The over €60 million unlocked in recent deals does not include proceeds from previous sales, such as the €20 million MIDI earned through the creation of Tigne Mall plc (which was later acquired by Hili Ventures) in 2013; and the sales of individual units developed under MIDI. The €2.5 million Portelli deal is not included.

Since 2020, MIDI has recorded a profit only once – in 2021. In its 2025 financial statements, MIDI describes the bond repayment as its “paramount priority”, outlining a strategy that relies on increased residential sales, further asset disposals, and “the reimbursement by Government of the carrying amount of the net assets attributable to the Manoel Island project.”

According to the 2016 prospectus, the bond issue was mainly intended to raise funds to restructure debt and complete development works.

The Concession: 

MIDI acquired a 99-year lease of land at Tigne’ Point (108,420 m2) and Manoel Island (267,900 m2) for Lm 39,570,000, approx. €92 million, on 15th June 2000.

Under the contract, the total value for Manoel Island stood at Lm 21,320,000 (approx. €49 million). However, it should be noted that Lm 15,275,000 (approx. €35 million) of that amount expressly covered the marina and its facilities, which remain operational and seemingly still under MIDI’s control.

As of June 2025, more than €40.2 million of that remained due to the government. A significant portion of the original premium was also paid out through public and heritage works. A MIDI spokesperson previously told The Times of Malta that “€34.4 million represents a credit in respect of infrastructural and restoration works”.

In April 2020, the PA approved the transfer of 8,000 m² of land from Manoel Island to Tigne Point; calculations of ‘eligible floor area’ extended it to 8,956 m² before the PA approved the construction of a new 17-storey tower on 9,160 m².

Although the underlying concession remains subject to obligations and ground rent payable to the Government, the contract expressly permits the transfer of individual buildings and units, provided that the proportional ground rent and obligations are passed on to the transferee. 

What is being transferred in these deals is the remaining term of the 99-year emphyteusis, together with the proportionate annual ground rent and obligations attached to each parcel.

The Deals: Fort Tigne/Manoel Island, Başel, Abdullaev

17th March 2026: Manoel Island & Fort Tigne’ – Malta’s Government 
Value: €47.3 million (net reimbursement of circa €43 million) 

Now rescinded deal: 16th December 2025: Fort Tigne’ – Joseph Portelli 
Value: €2,500,000

On 17th March, the government and MIDI announced a €47.3 million deal to rescind the concessions on both Manoel Island and Fort Tigne.

A few months prior, MIDI had entered into a promise of sale with J. Portelli Projects Ltd over Fort Tigne’ and its surrounding grounds, located at Tigne’ Point, for €2,500,000.

J. Portelli Projects Ltd is owned by Joseph Portelli, who planned to construct a hotel on the site.

Prime Minister Robert Abela had described the plans as “obscene” and made reference to the site in his New Year’s message. The site now forms part of the €47.3 million deal, however, it is unclear on the distribution of value.

Joseph Portelli did not reply to Amphora Media’s questions about the deal.

19th December 2025: T3 unit at Tigne’ point – Basel Capital (owned by Burak Başel)
Value: €10,200,000

MIDI entered into promise of sale agreements with Basel Capital Limited, owned by Burak Başel, over eleven commercial premises which underlie the Pjazza Blocks as well as the building known as Unit T3, all situated at Tigne Point, for €10,200,000.

Başel has a diverse portfolio of companies, including fintechs, Finance Incorporated (owner of Paymix) and Corpayss. He also has companies that provide services for gambling businesses and operates several services within the gambling and betting industries.

Amphora Media has previously reported how in Albania, Başel is the registered owner of Universe, which lists “electronic distance gaming” among its activities and which he owns via Universal Software Solutions in Curacao.

The other owner is a company called MAREN. MAREN was once owned by Ramazan Hasanbelli, an Albanian citizen convicted in Italy for drug trafficking and organised crime. The current co-owner is his brother, Ilir Hasanbelli, who continued the business with Başel after Ramazan’s conviction.

An investigation by OCCRP, Amphora Media, Times of Malta and other global partners also revealed how Cemil Önal, a since murdered whistleblower, had alleged that Başel played a role within the gambling empire of Halil Falyalı – a politically connected Turkish Cypriot gambling mogul murdered in February 2022.

Başel has denied all connections to the case and said his encounters with Falyalı were limited to software purchase.

24th February 2026: T15 Building (Under Construction) – The 540 Hub LTD (UBO: Zamir Magomedovich Abdullaev)
Value: €5,500,000

Zamir Magomedovich Abdullaev is the registered beneficial owner of The 540 Hub Limited, a company that registered with the Malta Business Registry the same day it purchased the “T15 Building”, a building under construction at Tigne Point, for €5,500,000.

Abdullaev, a Russian-Maltese national who became a Maltese citizen in 2015, is the beneficial owner of The 540 Club Limited through a company based in Panama, Echelon Investments Limited, S.A. 

Speaking to Amphora Media, Abdullaev said that the company “intends to develop a boutique commercial building — including shops, offices and cafeterias — within the permitted small size parameters.”

He said that the final signing of the contract is subject to government approval.

Abdullaev is also the owner of PNG (Overseas) Drilling & Services Ltd. 

Abdullaev said that the parent company, PNG DSL, was “established in the British Virgin Islands about 15–20 years ago as a holding structure to provide specialised upstream contractor oil services in the former USSR countries, the Middle East and North Africa.”

He said that “between 2008 and 2023, regional branches were set up to cover key markets: Russia — for operations in the former USSR; Malta — for North Africa; and Kuwait — for opportunities in the Gulf region.”

Abdullaev ended his directorship of BK PNG, or PNG Drilling company in Russia, in November 2022. Until 2024, the 99% shareholder was Anzhella Rabadanovna Abdullaeva, but ownership has been since transferred to Poisk Holding. Abdullaev explained that Poisk Holding “was set up by the management team and external investors to organise the management buyout”. 

Abdullaev added that PNG DSL “took the decision to sell its assets in Russia and exit the market” following the conflict in Ukraine and subsequent sanctions imposed by the USA and EU in 2022. He stepped down as CEO of BK PNG in 2022 and the business was sold in stages during 2023–2024.

“The family have no involvement and or connection to the business anymore,” he added.

Abdullaev stressed that he has been a resident of Malta since 1991 and that it has been his home for many years. 

Prior to the exit from Russia, BK PNG provided services to joint ventures involving Rosneft and its international partners from the USA and Europe. Abdullaev said that “at the time of engagement, these entities complied with applicable laws and were not subject to sanctions”.

According to an industry association, BK PNG had a contract with Gazpromneft-Orenburg LLC, part of the Russian state-owned gas monopoly Gazprom at least until 2024. 

Abdullaev explained that the former entity his business worked with is distinct from the state-owned monopoly. “Under family ownership, BK PNG did not work for Gazprom. PNG DSL’s decision to exit Russia was driven by a strategic assessment of business risks, including reputation considerations. The company prioritised alignment with its long‑term international strategy and global compliance standard,” Abdullaev said.

“Our current strategic focus is on Libya and the Gulf region,” he added.

Other sales from the Tigne Point Concession: The Shopping Mall

The recent transactions form part of an overarching sell-off of several assets in Tigne’ Point, most notably the shopping mall. 

In December 2024, Marsamxett Properties Ltd, a company owned by Hili Ventures, completed its squeeze-out process of Tigné Mall plc.

Tigné Mall plc was set up in 2013 after MIDI plc, which designed and built The Point shopping mall, sold its entire shareholding in the venture. Those shares were purchased by a combination of institutional investors (Mapfre MSV Life p.l.c., HSBC and Bank of Valletta) and members of the public. MIDI received €20.9 million from the share offer.

The Hili subsidiary had acquired over 49.68% of the issued share capital by September 2024 over a span of 10 months.

The government did not reply to Amphora Media’s questions about approvals, notifications or oversight mechanisms when parcels or buildings forming part of the concession are transferred to third parties. It did not confirm whether it was notified about these deals and did not explain the due diligence process.

MIDI, Burak Basel, Joseph Portelli and the Government of Malta did not respond to questions sent.

• Malta issued over 326,000 single permits between 2015 and 2024.
• Nearly all single permit holders in Malta arrive for 12 months or more.
• The share of EU citizens among immigrants (for any reason) has shrunk during the post-pandemic recovery.
• In 2015, the share of employees and people applying for other reasons (including retirement) was about equal. By 2024, employment overshadowed the ‘other’ category.

Malta’s population has grown by over 100,000 in a decade. Behind the headline figures lies a deeper transformation; the country’s migration system is shifting away from residents and retirees attracted by favourable tax rates and weather towards large-scale import of non-EU labour.

An Amphora Media analysis of Eurostat data shows that, over the past ten years, Malta has rebuilt its migration model around non-EU workers recruited at scale to sustain rapid economic growth.

In 2015, employment-based migration stood on roughly equal footing with other forms of residence, a category that includes self-funded retirement. By 2024, employment had become the overwhelmingly dominant route into the country for third-country nationals, while self-funded retirement, coupled with other minor pathways, have lost their prominence.

EU countries like Malta can issue residence permits for various types of stay, including permits covered by EU law. A single permit combines a residence and a work permit, allowing its holder a brief period of unemployment as well, without losing their residence. It is the most common employment residence permit, but there are others.

Malta issued over 326,000 single permits between 2015 and 2024. Their number ballooned 11 times over the period, reaching 67,392, up from 5,970 issued in 2015.

Even during the pandemic, the number of such permits dipped very slightly, and peaked in 2023 at just over 70 thousand. The numbers include renewed permits.

Unlike countries like Lithuania or Portugal, Malta is not actively using this system for short-term, seasonal work. Nearly 9 in 10 single permit holders in Malta are there longer-term – for 12 months or more.

The number of longer-term permit holders has been soaring since 2018, consistent with the government’s policy changes that have made the recruitment of non-EU nationals easier since 2017.

Source: Eurostat

Immigration data shows how non-EU citizens overtook EU citizens. The share of EU citizens among immigrants (for any reason) further shrank during the post-pandemic recovery.

Source: Eurostat. Note: EU countries include the UK until 2020

From 2021, UK citizens need a work permit in Malta. After a post-pandemic growth, their number has been declining, with 203 new British workers in 2024.

By 2024, employment had become the main gateway into Malta for non-EU nationals, accounting for half of all new arrivals, with education representing a further quarter. 

The figures below break down residence permits by purpose.

Employment

Over 119,200 first residence permits for employment purposes were issued between 2015 and 2024. This is not the same as the number of workers, as some may have left or changed their residence status.

Indian nationals received the most permits, a fifth of the total issued, followed by Nepalese, Filipino, Serbian and Colombian citizens.

Several of these nationalities are also among Malta’s most deported.

In 2024, the number of first permits was as follows.

Source: Eurostat

Top nationalities in 2015-2024

Source: Eurostat

Highly qualified individuals can obtain an EU Blue Card and reside in Malta with it. 

Between 2015 and 2024, Malta issued only 27 new permits on this basis: Russians, Americans and Indians received three cards each.

Education

Between 2015 and 2024, a total of 40,180 residence permits were issued for educational purposes, with Indians (7,898 permits) and Colombians (7,239 permits) topping the list. 

In 2015-2016, only a handful of Indians came to study in Malta, but the number shot up to hundreds in 2017 and nearly tripled between 2022 and 2023.

Hundreds of Colombians had been coming to study in Malta already in 2015-2016, but new arrivals first exceeded 1,000 in 2022.

Top nationalities of residence permit recipients for education

Source: Eurostat

Family

Residence for family reasons is a separate status. The number of such first permits peaked in 2023 at over 3,000. Between 2015 and 2024, the main nationalities receiving these permits were as follows.

Main nationalities of permit recipients residing for family reasons

Source: Eurostat

Most new recipients of family permits joined another non-EU citizen already living in Malta. There were almost 2,600 in 2024, with 537 non-EU citizens joining an EU citizen living in Malta (the most common nationality among these is British).

Other reasons

Residence permits can also be issued for other reasons, which include financially independent retired persons, non-asylum discretionary permissions to stay, and diplomats. Eurostat also collects data on residents with international protection statuses (refugee status and subsidiary protection).

In Greece and Italy, over half of first-time resident permit holders in 2024 applied for one of these reasons, but in Malta, the share was under 16%. 

In 2015, the share of employees and people applying for other reasons (including retirement) was about equal, but employment has since overshadowed this other category.

Source: Eurostat. Note: the drop in employment-based residence permits likely reflects changes in the Temporary Work Agencies legislation.

In 2020, when Brexit changed the status of UK citizens, making them third-country nationals, it was estimated that around 8,000 retired Brits were living in Malta. 

The number of first permits for other reasons (including retirement) has recovered after a pandemic dip and soared in 2023 and 2024, reaching nearly 4,700.

In 2024, 4,073 residence permits were issued by Identita through the Malta Permanent Residence Programme (MPRP), the Malta Residency and Visa Programme (MRVP), and the Nomad scheme for digital nomads (the latter accounted for 1,031 of this number).

Eurostat data also contains statistics on ‘residence’ as a reason. China and Russia top the list of over 11,400 recipients between 2015 and 2024.

Top nationalities with ‘residence’ as a reason for permit

Source: Eurostat

Meanwhile, a total of 5,242 people received refugee status or subsidiary protection between 2015 and 2024, with the top nationalities being Syria and Libya. Contrary to leading politicians’ claims, the contribution of asylum seekers and refugees to Malta’s rapid population growth is minimal.

Asylum applications in Malta have been in steep decline, with the government praising this trend amid increased deportations. In 2025, Amphora Media reported on pushbacks to Libya to decrease arrivals.

In totality, this significant shift in migration policy, geared towards imported labour from non-EU countries, is reshaping towns and neighbourhoods as explored in Amphora Media’s Landscapes of Change investigation.

By Joanna Demarco

Updated with a comment from Komunità Malta agency.

Alexander Kuksov, a Maltese passport holder and the brother of Semen Kuksov, is wanted by the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency. He is suspected of ‘proceeds of crime offences’ in relation to an operation investigating a Russian ‘billion-dollar money laundering network’.

Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) this month announced charges against Alexander Kuksov, 23, putting him on its “most wanted” list. The NCA alleged he was “involved with an organised crime group responsible for the transfer and movement of multi-millions of pounds of criminal cash”. The details have been revealed in a joint investigation between Amphora Media, OCCRP, and Times of Malta.

The agency lists the offences as including “entering into or being concerned in the acquisition, retention, use or control or criminal property [sic], in this case, cash.”

Amphora Media, OCCRP and Times of Malta previously revealed that Alexander Kuksov’s brother, Semen, was stripped of his Maltese citizenship in October last year, following his five-year sentence. Semen, 25, was convicted in the U.K. of involvement in a group the NCA called a “professional banking service for criminals across the world.” 

The brothers, together with their father Vladimir Anatolyevich Kuksov, appear on a list of people granted citizenship in 2022 by Malta. The Kuksovs appear to have been given Maltese citizenship just weeks before Russians were excluded from passport sales to wealthy investors in the wake of the Kremlin’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

In July 2022 – about six months after receiving his Maltese citizenship – Semen began managing “couriers to collect criminal money and deliver the laundered money overseas,” according to a statement by the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service.

The NCA now alleges that Alexander Kusksov was also involved in the criminal money laundering operation.

Lawyers for the elder Kuksov told OCCRP in 2024 that he had “no comment to make but notes that he and his adult son have lived separate lives for some years.” 

Vladimir Kuksov did not respond to a request for comment about the new allegations against his younger son, Alexander, whose whereabouts are unknown.

The Kuksovs received Maltese passports through a controversial citizenship-by-investment program. The so-called “golden passport” scheme was eliminated this year, following a damning judgement by the Court of Justice of the European Union. 

The Komunità Malta Agency, which oversaw the citizenship-by-investment programme, responded by saying, “We can confirm that the name of the person in question has come to the attention of the national authorities, and we shall be following any developments in this case closely.”

Under Maltese law, passports can be revoked if an applicant is sentenced within seven years of becoming a citizen to a jail term of a year or longer.

The charges announced by the NCA against Alexander have not been tried in court, and the money laundering allegations against him are not proven.

When the NCA announced its “Operation Destabilise” investigation in December 2024, it said the money laundering bust was its biggest in a decade, OCCRP reported at the time. The agency said the ring run out of Moscow and Dubai had been moving billions in cryptocurrency and hard cash for criminal operations, ranging from Russian ransomware attacks to street-level drug deals in the U.K.

Several alleged members of the network were sanctioned, and the NCA said it had arrested 84 people. They included Semen Kuksov, who later pleaded guilty to laundering more than $15 million of “criminally obtained cash,” according to the UK prosecution service.

The operation uncovered a complex scheme in which the networks collect funds in one country and make the equivalent value available in another, often by swapping cryptocurrency for cash. The crime agency stated that the investigation exposed and disrupted Russian money laundering networks that support crime worldwide.

The Malta Police Force did not respond to a request for comment on the U.K. case against Alexander or whether it was investigating the allegations against him.

Previous reporting by Amphora Media had also highlighted the lag between the government initiating the passport revocation process and the citizenship being officially revoked.

Malta eliminated its citizenship-by-investment programme earlier this year following a damning judgement by the Court of Justice of the European Union, bringing anend to a long-winded saga.

Malta had tried to defend the scheme, claiming that it is being unfairly targeted despite similar schemes existing in other countries – a false claim. It has now expanded a discretionary citizenship scheme for individuals of ‘exceptional merit.