The European Court of Justice has condemned Malta’s citizenship-by-investment scheme. Still, Malta’s government and Prime Minister Robert Abela have staunchly defended the scheme, citing a €1.4 billion revenue supposedly created to benefit Maltese people.
But is that correct? An analysis of published data shows that the actual investment in people is far smaller.
The claim
In a Facebook post, the Prime Minister claimed the scheme generated “almost a billion and a half euros that we have invested in people”, helping them “in their hour of need” during moments like the pandemic.
A government press release cited the €1.4 billion figure, listing several projects:
More than €60 million to social housing projects, “providing hundreds of social housing apartments”.
An €8.5 million investment in St Michael Hospice, a state-of-the-art palliative care project.
€5 million invested in the Puttinu Cares apartments in London.
A €10 million investment in health centres,
“Millions” in equipment at St Vincent De Paul and the cardiology department at Mater Dei Hospital.
€5 million invested in athletes participating in the Games of the Small States of Europe
Over €13 million allocated to the construction of a car racing track.
A €9 million agreement with the Malta Football Association for a new technical centre
The facts
The revenues generated from the programme are channelled into two key streams:
1. The National Development and Social Fund (NDSF) – 70%
The NDSF runs a direct investment portfolio for local economic, cultural or social strategic investments.
Such investments ranged from purchasing Lombard Bank shares to buying art at international auctions to the social projects mentioned above.
It also includes a discretionary portfolio, a BOV-managed fund targeting global investments, like bonds and securities.
2. The Consolidated Fund – 30%
The main government bank account, where all public revenues are deposited and expenditures are made, receives around 30% of the money generated.
It should be noted that the statement says that the percentage sent to the Consolidated Fund increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, no official figure could be found for the amount spent from the citizenship scheme revenues during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A breakdown of the distribution of revenues from golden passports – Source: NSDF Report 2022
According to the latest financial statements, the NDSF received €619 million in revenues between its inception and 2022.
€130 million, or about one-fifth, was allocated to projects of social importance.
Prime Minister Robert Abela provided a breakdown of the distribution of the NDSF’s social projects in July 2024, following a parliamentary question from MP Mark Anthony Sammut.
The government did not respond to requests to provide the latest official figures.
Figures provided by Prime Minister Robert Abela to Parliament in July 2024
The data confirms that as of July 2024, less than 10% of the reported €1.4 billion generated from the scheme went into social projects, and that just €41,847,629, or one-third of the amount promised, had been paid out.
Notably, just under €7.7 million of the total €60 million promised to social housing had been used by July 2024 – some 13% of the amount pledged.
In 2019, the NDSF and the Housing Authority pledged to develop 550 housing units. The latest financial statements suggest that works were at the permitting stage, awaiting tenders.
Since then, we have found seven tenders for the construction of housing blocks issued by the Housing Authority and published on the government’s public procurement website. The Ministry for Social and Affordable Housing did not reply to our request for an update.
The data provided by Prime Minister Abela in July 2024 shows some schemes for which no disbursements have been provided. These include:
The New Hope scheme, which offers a loan for individuals who face difficulties in taking up life insurance.
Richmond Foundation: KIDS for Development Programme
CT Scan/MRI St Vincent De Paul Hospital
SportMalta ‐ Malta Olympic Committee High Performance Strategy
The funds committed to Puttinu Cares were fully disbursed. However, this figure over the years pales before regular donations from the general public at a single charity event, reportedly over €3 million in 2024 and 2025 each.
Successful applicants of the golden passport scheme also donate to charitable causes, which extend to football clubs, band clubs, university departments, the Malta Film Commission, and many others, one of which is managed by citizenship scheme agents themselves.
According to a 2023 report by the regulator, since the beginning of the programme €6,112,648 were received across 1,061 donations.
The claim also included €339 million from property purchases and €158 million from property rentals, which is also not direct investment in people.
Participation in the property market is not direct investment in people, as a 2023 KPMG report showed that growth in the construction and real estate sector did not trickle down to workers’ income.
The government’s spokesperson did not respond to our questions and requests for a breakdown of more updated figures.
The verdict: Misleading – but not entirely false
The claim about the citizenship-by-investment scheme’s contribution to society’s needs is overestimated, and the claim that €1.4 billion was invested “in the people” is misleading.
From the €1.4 billion figure, over 90% of the funds generated do not go directly to social projects – instead, they are either placed in financial instruments, which generate interest, debt securities and other assets – or not utilised at all
Only €131 million – less than a tenth of the €1.4 billion figure – has been committed to social projects, and only a third has been disbursed.
So while the scheme certainly generated €1.4 billion in revenue, it is inaccurate to say that the billion figure is ‘directly’ invested in the people.
This project is supported by the European Media and Information Fund. The sole responsibility for any content supported by the European Media and Information Fund lies with the authors and it may not necessarily reflect the positions of the EMIF and the Fund Partners, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the European University Institute.
Project Green is poised for sweeping powers under the latest Planning Authority proposal—powers NGOs warn will be largely unchecked on ODZ land and urban spaces—and an Amphora Media analysis shows that many of its current projects cluster within the electoral districts of Prime Minister Robert Abela and Environment Minister Miriam Dalli.
Minister for the Environment, Energy and Regeneration of the Grand Harbour Miriam Dalli visits ongoing works by Project Green in Birżebbuġa. Photo credit: DOI
According to data compiled from publicly available information, roughly half of all announced Project Green initiatives have occurred in the electoral districts where Abela and Dalli ran in the 2022 general election.
“These projects are distributed across the country, with the active involvement of local councils and NGOs. They are based on public calls, electoral commitments, and the need for interventions. Unlike what your questions imply, it is not the case that certain areas are favoured while others are neglected,” the spokesperson of the Ministry for Environment, Energy and Public Cleanliness wrote in response to Amphora’s questions.
Project Green officially stated that it was working on 118 projects within different localities as of October 2024. However, a complete list is yet to be published. When asked by Amphora Media, Project Green provided a list of 46 projects.
How we calculated the distribution
Using announcements published on Project Green’s website, as well as planning applications and development notification orders submitted to the Planning Authority, Amphora Media calculated how Project Green’s projects are distributed across Malta.
They did not overlap with the list Project Green sent, so we conducted separate analyses for each dataset.
The dataset we have compiled by analysing announcements on Project Green’s website was the largest, as it included announcements of interim steps within the project.
Among the announced works, the localities within the 2nd electoral district benefited most from Project Green works. These localities are where Prime Minister Robert Abela, Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government Alison Zerafa Civelli – Abela’s sister-in-law – and Parliamentary Secretary for Public Cleanliness Glenn Bedingfield contested in the last general election.
It was followed by 5th district, where Environment Minister Miriam Dalli and Robert Abela ran, and the 11th district, where Dalli competed against opposition leader Bernard Grech.
Robert Abela and Miriam Dalli at a Project Green location. Photo credit: DOI
Project Green’s list of works carried out covered all electoral districts except Gozo. Miriam Dalli’s 5th district attracted more than one in six projects, the same as Silvio Schembri’s and Ian Borg’s 6th district. Their 7th district also emerged at the top.
“Project Green’s efforts are executed in close collaboration and full consultation with local councils, schools, and the community at large, respectively. Project selection is a rigorous process, including applications received through various launched schemes, such as the Community Greening Grant and the Greening School Initiative, along with those mentioned in the Electoral Manifesto,” Project Green’s representative replied in response to questions about the distribution of the agency’s projects.
What counts as green?
Project Green, a government agency, was opened in early 2023 to respond to the growing demand for liveable localities. “We want to deliver green spaces that are self-sufficient, sustainable and accessible,” Environment Minister Miriam Dalli said at the agency’s launch.
“The Government has committed to launching the largest-ever investment in green and public open spaces, with various entities involved. Project Green serves as the primary leader in this initiative,” the ministry spokesperson emphasised in response to Amphora’s questions.
More than four in five Maltese want the government to tackle climate change. In a 2024 survey, nearly all Maltese respondents said they suffered from extreme weather events, and two in five wanted tree-lined streets or green spaces to cool urban spaces down. A survey of children and adolescents showed that most wanted more safety from traffic in their localities.
However, as the Project Green agency builds more playgrounds and car parks, it is unclear how its mission differs from other government schemes for similar purposes.
Project Green has placed furniture in a ‘green pocket’ between roads in Qajjenza. Photo credit: DOI
Analysis by Amphora Media shows that Project Green has submitted 19 planning applications – four concern creating car parks, and six include playgrounds or play areas. One of them, in Hamrun, was withdrawn and submitted as a development notification order.
Project Green also submitted 18 development notification orders during that time (one was withdrawn and resubmitted) – one includes car park development and seven contain playground or play area developments.
In total, nearly a fifth of the planning applications and development notices were filed in the 5th electoral district, where Minister Miriam Dalli & Prime Minister Robert Abela contested in 2022. No other electoral district came close.
Regarding localities, Birzebbuga is the largest beneficiary, with three Project Green developments. Attard also got three, but two concentrated on San Anton gardens.
Critics consider that some interventions by Project Green should not be considered green projects, meaning that instead of nature-based solutions, the agency promotes high-maintenance landscaped gardens, which depend on constant contractor input.
Project Green’s plans to plant trees on top of a car park in Bormla. Source: documents submitted to the Planning Authority
On Project Green’s plans to build underground parking topped a garden in Bormla, Alfred E. Baldacchino, former assistant director of what used to be the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, who blogs and writes about environmental policy and planning, said, “This is a pseudo-green project, because trees are going to be planted on the roof of the construction, and that is no natural habitat for trees”. Drawings submitted to the Planning Authority show that trees will have, at most, 1.2 metres of depth of soil for their roots.
“The selection of tree species for the project was carried out by Project Green’s Research & Development Unit, which includes environmental scientists,” a representative of Project Green said in response to this criticism.
Regulating interventions
The Bormla site is one of the 13 developments where Project Green wants to install playgrounds, outdoor fitness equipment or other similar facilities.
Floriana’s Pinetum is another, with plans for “general cleanup of the pinetum, tree pruning, accessibility improvement, public amenities, general lighting, fencing, Nissen Huts restoration and installation of children’s play area”.
Developments like outdoor fitness areas are already financed by the Capital Projects financing scheme under the Ministry for the National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government. A new outdoor fitness area in a public garden under this scheme was recently unveiled in Marsaxlokk. Urban greening projects are also implemented by the waste management entity, WasteServ, among others has also implemented urban greening projects.
Ambjent Malta is one of the agencies investing in green urban spaces. Photo credit: DOI
Various parks, green walls and green areas are covered by a tender, awarded to GEB Landscaping. San Anton gardens, for example, have over the past years been landscaped both by GEB Landscaping and by Project Green.
“The scope of Project Green differs significantly and does not overlap with the efforts of the GEB. It is to be highlighted that, whilst [Ministry for Environment, Energy and Public Cleanliness] is the lead ministry, it is not the only one delivering public open spaces. It is a Government commitment to fulfil this promise,” the ministry spokesperson said in response to the questions about potential overlaps.
A consultation that concluded in March presented a proposed legal amendment that would give Project Green more powers. If adopted, Project Green would implement such measures and approve them when submitted by other entities.
“Under this proposal, Project Green and other entities would be granted unchecked power to build in Outside Development Zones (ODZ) and urban areas through a backdoor mechanism that bypasses established planning policies. This is unacceptable and must be stopped,” a group of ten Maltese NGOs, including Moviment Graffitti and Din l-Art Ħelwa, wrote in a public statement.
“[The proposed change] applies to projects that are not only to be done by Project Green, [but] all public entities, local councils – they are cited in the legal notice, they can do a project without going through the normal planning process that they should be going through usually, if this is under the label of a greening project,” explains Andre Callus, an activist at the NGO Moviment Graffitti, which opposes the changes.
Applicants “would just need the approval of Project Green, no consultation, no possibility for the public to object or appeal,” Callus continued. Project Green’s representative responded, saying, “The amendments to the [Development Notification Order] will foster coordination and cohesion between Project Green and all entities involved.”
Project Green’s landscaped area. Photo credit: DOI
Controversial leadership
Project Green has become primarily associated with public gardens. In 2023-2024, it issued numerous tenders, with its top contractors being garden supply, furniture, drilling and quarrying, and boat maintenance.
It also issued €277,373 worth of direct orders, with the largest recipient being Agriproducts Ltd, trading as Jardinland – and €150,801 worth of calls for quotations.
“The direct order to Agriproducts Ltd was issued as the existing framework was fully utilised. Following market research, their quote was the lowest among the four received. The normal approval process was adhered to,” Project Green’s spokesperson responded to a question why they decided to go with a direct order rather than the usual tendering process.
The agency came to additional spotlight when Joseph Cuschieri became its CEO. In 2020, Cuschieri suspended himself and then resigned from his MFSA post after a Times of Malta report disclosed that he had accepted a luxury holiday in Las Vegas in 2018, sponsored by Yorgen Fenech, who currently awaits trial for the alleged involvement in the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Joseph Cuschieri. Photo credit: DOI
An internal review board, led by former Chief Justice Joseph Azzopardi and lawyer Mark Simiana, determined that Cuschieri had infringed the MFSA’s guidelines on hospitality.
Prime Minister Robert Abela insisted that Cuschieri paid a price for his wrongdoing and had the necessary credentials to head Project Green.
Cuschieri had also courted controversy during his time at the MFSA over an early retirement scheme that omitted the standard obligation for its beneficiaries to retire fully, with some going on to take on other public sector jobs, according to the Shift News.
According to tribunal records, Cuschieri admitted to having spoken with a minister about employing a former MFSA employee who had taken early retirement, raising concerns about informal rehiring practices. The Shift News has revealed that Cuschieri headhunted 19 new managers to Project Green.
According to the budget documents of 2025, Project Green’s expenditure ballooned three times between 2023 and 2024. The agency spent €391,261 on upgrading parks and public gardens in 2023, plus nearly €7 million on urban greening. But by 2024 urban greening expenditure rose to €23.5 million, and €30 million were earmarked for 2025.
Sabrina Zammit and Justin Schembri contributed research.
Malta’s decade-long gamble on golden passports crashed to a halt after the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that the citizenship-by-investment scheme infringed EU law and amounted to the “commercialisation” of both Maltese and EU citizenship.
First launched over a decade ago, the controversial programme zig-zagged through warnings and reforms, with today’s ruling potentially shutting the door on the scheme.
“The Court acknowledges that member states are still free to decide who becomes their national, but it reminds them that when you grant nationality of a member state, you also grant EU citizenship,” the Court’s press officer explained, adding, “Citizenship rights exist because of member states being able to trust each other. All of it is based on the principles of sincere cooperation and mutual trust. That is why the acquisition of Union citizenship cannot result from a commercial transaction.”
What’s the case all about?
The European Commission began challenging Malta’s citizenship-by-investment scheme in 2020.
It argued that the scheme effectively sells citizenship of the entire European Union, without establishing whether the investor has, or will develop, links to Malta itself beyond the transactional requirements.
In March 2023, the EU Commission brought the case before the top EU court, which is responsible for ensuring the consistent application of EU law.
“By establishing and maintaining such a scheme, Malta compromises and undermines the essence and integrity of Union citizenship,” the Commission wrote in its plea to the court, basing its argument that citizenship buyers are not required to have a genuine link to Malta.
In response, the Maltese government claimed that nothing in EU law requires a genuine link and that demanding Malta scrap the scheme “encroached on a domain within the sovereignty of the Member States.”
The ruling Labour Party, which introduced the scheme, has called for a “new chapter of national convergence on the subject” of citizenship by investment. Various government officials, including Prime Minister Robert Abela, have emphasised that the citizenship scheme contributes to a fund that “is helping those who are most in need in society.”
The Nationalist Party’s position is less clear. While leader Bernard Grech had previously come out against the sale of passports to Russian nationals following the invasion of Ukraine, after sales to them were stopped, he has steered away from making his stance on the scheme clear.
Meanwhile, Alex Borg, one the party’s up-and-coming politicians, recently said that while the scheme initially had significant due diligence issues, it went on to bring a lot of benefits to Malta – and that the sale of passports should be “maximised”, and should be used to grow new industries in the country.
What is Malta’s citizenship by investment scheme?
The current citizenship-by-investment legal framework was launched in 2014 as the Malta Individual Investor Programme (MIIP).
Maltese law previously allowed for fast-track citizenship, but under a 2007 legal amendment, investors could become citizens at a minister’s discretion, without a structured programme, for so-called exceptional services. The 2013 amendment set a price and other structured conditions.
Specifically, these legal changes allowed individuals to obtain Maltese citizenship by paying €650,000 into a development fund, without any conditions on prior investments in or residential links to Malta. Dependent family members could also get their passports for a fraction of this sum.
In an interview in 2014, Joseph Muscat compared golden passports to roads, which are built by foreign nationals but ultimately benefit the Maltese.
Over the years, the government has announced that citizenship purchases have raised close to €1 million for Mater Dei Hospital, €10 million for health centres, €1.5 million for Caritas, and €1 million for the purchase of Puttinu Cares’ premises in London. Money collected from the scheme was also used to upgrade schools.
However, the scheme has long courted controversy. Keith Schembri, the former chief of staff of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, has been charged in connection to allegations that he received kickbacks on the passports scheme from Russian nationals through the notorious Pilatus Bank, as they were applying for citizenship with Nexia BT’s Brian Tonna.
According to testimony of a police officer, Schembri received an initial transfer of €50,000 on 25th June 2015 and a further €50,000 on 19th August 2015. Schembri denies the charges.
Who are the buyers?
The names of citizenship buyers are published in the government gazette, but are mixed with the names of individuals who have become Maltese citizens through different means. As a result, academics, civil society, journalists and other interested actors cannot scrutinise the complete list of buyers.
In 2021, the Passport Papers investigation came out. The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation and media partners revealed that applicants for golden passports were assessed according to a point system.
For each day spent in Malta, an applicant accrued 15 points. Renting a flat resulted in 60 points, while opening a bank account and subscribing to a local society in Malta each accrued 10 points. The points matrix system also allowed applicants who had not spent many days in Malta to ‘score’ points through other activities such as large charitable donations.
The lax rules became attractive to oligarchs, Russian politicians, and Saudi royals, among others.
Two sons of Russia’s long-time richest parliament member, Grigory Anikeev, as well as the sons’ mothers, became Maltese citizens. The two women went on to use their Maltese passports to shop for property in Dubai. One of them, Irina Kupareva, used a ‘gift certificate’ from Anikeev’s associate to justify her thereto unexplained wealth in her Maltese citizenship application.
Asked about facilitating the acquisition of EU citizenship for politically exposed persons, Henley & Partners, the company that recruits and screens applicants for the citizenship scheme, told the Times of Malta, “We have no legal obligation to do any compliance checks” and that this is the government’s responsibility.
A government spokesperson told the Passport Papers team that the screening of applicants “involves Interpol and Europol database checks, border controls and physical presence in Malta.”
Former gold mining executive Pavel Grachev also purchased Maltese passports for himself and his family, which he used to acquire a property in Dubai. Grachev was sanctioned by the US in 2022 for his role in Polyus, Russia’s largest gold producer and one of the world’s largest gold mining companies. The Financial Times recently found seven sanctioned Russians among Maltese citizenship buyers.
As reported by Amphora earlier, Semen Kuksov, a citizenship buyer’s son, imprisoned in the United Kingdom for “running a professional banking service for criminals across the world”, is serving his sentence as a Maltese citizen despite announcements that his passport revocation process has begun.
Semen Kuksov
Citizenship revocations have been published in the government gazette since 2020. From that date, Pavel Melnikov remains the only known citizenship buyer to have lost his Maltese passport. He was found guilty of aggravated tax fraud and aggravated accounting fraud in Finland earlier this year.
Why did the EU Commission challenge Malta over its Passports Scheme?
Transparency International, an international watchdog, has warned that “a consensus has emerged that these schemes open the EU’s doors to money laundering, corruption and security risks” and that “golden passport programmes are schemes with specific features that make them vulnerable to abuse” because they favour passive investment into luxury property – a favoured money laundering method.
However, it is not the evidence of the citizenship scheme’s sanctions evasion, corruption and money laundering risks that formed the basis of the European Commission’s challenge against Malta. The Commission chose to focus its arguments on the requirement of a genuine link to Malta.
In October 2024, the EU court’s Advocate General Anthony Michael Collins issued a legal opinion that EU legislation does not require any such link, and member states “have decided that it is for each of them alone to determine who is entitled to be one of their nationals.” The opinion was not binding.
“The opinion allows the Court to have a possible answer, but it is not always followed,” the Court’s spokesperson explained.
“There are individual cases where there is a very strong suspicion that, if it can be shown that Malta, by allowing this practice, opens the door to money laundering or corruption, and this can be proven with evidence, then this could be an additional link for declaring those [citizenship by investment] measures as contrary to EU law. But this has not been subject to this case, the Commission has not argued that,” said Nils Seidel, a researcher in EU and public international law at Leipzig University.
Malta is the sole remaining EU member state to offer citizenship by investment after Bulgaria and Cyprus scrapped their programs under pressure from the European Commission.
How Malta tried to save the case through reforms
Malta’s citizenship-by-investment scheme was reformed in 2020.
The reform clearly outlines a ‘residency stage’, ‘eligibility stage’ (at which additional payments are made), and ‘citizenship stage’, at which the qualifying property must be bought or rented.
The agency’s guidelines also specify that the responsible agency conducts continuous monitoring for a period of five years. Agents handling the application must inform the agency about the applicant’s status as a politically exposed person or appearance on any sanctions list. Where, like in China, social credit reports are a standard practice, these need to be submitted with the application too.
The European Commission’s infringement proceedings came a few months after the reform, and Malta argued that past criticism, including that from the evidence compiled in the Passport Papers, had been addressed by the 2020 reform.
In court, Malta’s representatives argued that “A rate of refusal of approximately one third of all admissible applications is sufficient proof of the absence of any automaticity.” Malta hired Professor Daniel Sarmiento Ramírez-Escudero to make its case. The Shift News has reported that he was also hired to work on the finch trapping case, which Malta also lost.
“A Member State cannot grant its nationality – and indeed European citizenship – in exchange for predetermined payments or investments, as this essentially amounts to rendering the acquisition of nationality a mere commercial transaction,” the Court stated in a press release on the ruling. The Court also ordered Malta to pay the cost of the proceedings.
“The current scheme has been declared to be contrary to EU law and must therefore be either scrapped or changed to conform with the judgement,” the Court’s press officer explained, adding that if Malta continues violating EU law, the Commission has the option to request that the court imposes a fine.
It remains to be seen whether Malta will follow the ruling, whether it will entirely reform the programme, or scrap it entirely. In a statement, the government promised to respect the court’s judgement.
By Julian Delia (cap.mt), Sabrina Zammit, Daiva Repečkaitėand Julian Bonnici
Total government expenditure on private security and labour services (2013 – 2024): €293 million.
The top 5 companies earned €270 million (92.2%).
G4S: €150 million (51.2%)
Signal 8:€60 million (20.4%)
Kerber:€28 million (9.6%)
Executive:€23 million (8%)
Grange: €9 million (3%)
Research points toward questionable public procurement practices, including but not limited to:
Direct ordersabove the €10,000 limit.
Some contractors with direct access to lucrative public contracts have a documented history of questionable practices and/or brushes with the law.
A total of 71 contractual variations in favour of the bidder after the tender is awarded.
Connections between former and current politicians and government representatives, with a high volume of former AFM and police force officials.
You’ve seen them somewhere at least once.
Maybe it was a hospital, a school, or a car park. Government buildings, or entertainment venues like theatres and clubs.
For an island of Malta’s size, private security companies have a heavy presence wherever you look.
Despite its ubiquity, the private security industry rarely attracts media scrutiny, not unless a bouncer severely injures a random partygoer in Paceville.
In January, a joint investigation published by The Critical Angle Project and Amphora Media revealed that one security company alone secured almost €4 million in public procurement contracts over a period of less than a decade.
Today, we can further reveal that since the Labour Party swept to power in 2013, the government has spent a total of at least €293 million on services from companies involved in the private security industry.
In 2021 and 2023, the government spent more on acquiring services from these companies than it spent on salaries and wages at the police force and the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM).
To better understand this comparison, we consulted with a veteran of the police force regarding our findings. The source was granted anonymity to speak candidly.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the devolution of some of the police force’s duties to civilians or private security personnel, especially with low-risk assignments like a public garden. We don’t need the police force to do everything, everywhere, which is what we used to do before,” our source said.
“Problems arise if the public procurement process rewards the same companies without any real competition. This, along with the failure to enforce adequate standards among security personnel, can form part of the kind of abusive practice that harms the integrity of the public service,” the source added.
There are 27 companies with a security license and an active presence in the market – 16 of those companies were recipients of public contracts.
While some of those companies focus entirely on providing security services, others also provide additional personnel specialisations ranging from cleaning to engineering to seafaring.
The total cited in this article refers to all contracts assigned to the license-holding companies we identified. Our analysis reveals that the private security sector’s largest companies have claimed the lion’s share of public procurement.
Out of the total pot of €293 million, €270 million went to G4S Security Services, Signal 8 Security Services, Kerber Security, Executive Security, and Grange Security.
Those five companies alone claimed 92% of all the public contracts examined in this analysis.
At the number one spot, the market’s polarisation becomes even more pronounced. In total, G4S earned €150 million – more than the rest of the top five combined. At the other end of the top five, Grange Security earned €9 million.
The remaining €23 million was distributed to a total of eleven companies.
The findings of our January investigation called into question the rigour of standards set for the industry. The company’s owner and director we investigated is a convicted sex offender and is known to be close to Gozo minister Clint Camilleri.
This instance of questionable standards is not an isolated case in this industry. Our analysis points towards questionable public procurement protocols and operators as well as a high level of overlap between the private security industry and former AFM and police force officials close to the Labour Party.
While not every company can be painted with the same brush, the number of red flags we found remains significant.
Questions were sent directly to the office of the prime minister prior to publication to discuss these issues.
G4S: The lion’s share
The largest company among them is G4S, which the De Martino family owns through a holding company named KDM Investments Ltd. G4S was first registered in Malta in 1998.
According to the company’s CEO, its global operations involve over 900,000 employees under the licence of G4S International.
G4S Malta’s executive chairperson and single largest shareholder is Kenneth De Martino.
A photo of Kenneth De Martino from 2016. Photo: DataByte Facebook page
G4S’ CEO, Edward Chetcuti, responded to our questions.
Chetcuti noted that G4S Malta is one of Malta’s largest employers, emphasising that 94% of his company’s 1,650 employees in Malta are locals. He further claimed that “circa 70%” of the country’s cash circulation and ATMs are managed by G4S.
When asked to comment specifically on the large amount of direct orders and tenders assigned to G4S, Chetcuti stated that G4S “has indeed delivered a substantial amount of security services to public entities.”
“It is significant to note that as a result of our participation in the public tenders and the subsequent delivery of public services, over 90% of all our revenue is redirected directly to our workforce by way of salaries. These figures reflect our role as a major employer and contributor to the local economy,” Chetcuti claimed.
“Like any other company we have a substantial amount of overheads that are required to deliver these services which are also recovered through the revenue generated from these contracts, leaving a marginal operating profit,” he added.
Chetcuti maintains that “all public contracts awarded to G4S Malta and any subsequent negotiated procedures have been secured through the official procurement process under procurement regulations and duly approved by the contracting authorities.”
Signal 8: The former SMU officer
While G4S claims the top spot, Signal 8 Security comes in second with a public procurement market share of €60 million, 20% of the contracts under analysis.
Signal 8 is owned by former Special Mobile Unit officer Joseph ‘Jovan’ Grech. Besides owning Signal 8, Grech is also listed as a consultant for Conflict International, a London-based private investigations firm.
In addition, Grech is the sole shareholder of a Malta-registered company named Kelis Rayel Company Ltd. The company operates El Doris Boutique Living, a boutique hotel in Marsaskala that is subject to a pending planning application.
Grech did not respond to our questions directly when contacted.
A still from a social media promo from 2019 featuring Joseph ‘Jovan’ Grech. Video: Signal 8 Facebook page
However, Signal 8’s managing director Julian Dimech – along with G4S’ CEO and Kerber Security’s Stefan Axisa – did respond via a joint statement from the newly formed Malta Private Security Association (MPSA).
Set up to “promote and safeguard its members’ interests by advocating pro-industry policies and legislation,” the MPSA’s stated goals are “to prevent the exploitation of employees” and “to foster an industry that values integrity, protects workers, and contributes to a healthy and ethical labour market.”
The strip club owner
A screenshot from Kerber Security’s website featuring a stylised photo of Ronald Axisa
Kerber Security is a Maltese company owned by Ronald Axisa. Kerber claims just shy of 10% of the public procurement contracts under analysis, which amounts to €28 million since 2013.
Axisa also owns a strip club named Stiletto, located in Paceville. Stefan Axisa is his son, and was one of the individuals responding to our questions on behalf of the MPSA.
Despite the MPSA’s claim that its members wish to “contribute to a healthy and ethical labour market,” the track record of Kerber’s employees raises questions.
In October of last year,two unlicensed bouncersemployed by Kerber – Ivan Marjanovic and Milos Stojkovic – were released on bail after pleading not guilty to grievously injuring a group of youths in Paceville.
Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech had ordered JobsPlus to investigate Kerber and the establishments where they were working to determine whether they were employed legally.
Questions sent to Jobsplus about the outcome of that investigation were redirected through the public service’s customer support page and remained unanswered at publication time.
In January 2024, another Kerber employee, Ryan Zammit, was among a group of bouncers who wereaccused of causing grievous harm to a Sudanese student in Paceville. Zammit was further accused of operating without a license.
In 2020, three months into the COVID-19 pandemic, a news report published by Lovin Malta linked Kerber Security to the government’s inhumane offshore detention centres.
The government had confirmed that the whole operation cost taxpayers around €1.7 million but did not confirm Kerber’s involvement until an FOI request was filed.
“A direct order was commissioned to Kerber Security to provide security services on the four vessels chartered to accommodate illegal immigrants between April and June 2020 during the time when Maltese ports were closed off due to COVID-19,” the home affairs ministry’s response stated.
“The security company was chosen because at the time of the operation it was offering services at the Marsa Initial Reception Centre, and could therefore provide a service in the shortest possible time,” it added.
In April, the constitutional court awarded €20,000 in non-pecuniary damages to nine asylum seekers who were detained in these offshore centres, declaring that the conditions the government detained them in were inhumane.
A comparison of the company’s annual accounts with the revenue they generated from public procurement shows a high degree of dependence on government contracts; particularly from 2020 – 2023.
Questions were sent to Kerber Security for clarification about their involvement in the Captain Morgan saga and the volume of public contracts they received. No responses were received from Kerber or the Office of the Prime Minister by publication time.
Executive Security: The ex-AFM official
With a total of 8% of the contracts tracked for this analysis, Executive Security was the only firm that threatened immediate legal action as a result of our queries.
“Your allegations are incorrect and are clearly intended to provide a prejudiced narrative. Under these circumstances, we warn you that if you persist in publishing untruthful facts about us, we will proceed against you for the damages you would cause us,” Executive’s owner, Stephen Ciangura, wrote in a brief response.
A photo of Stephen Ciangura posing with one of his racing horses. Photo: Facebook
Further questions were sent to substantiate this website’s findings. Ciangura was invited to explain where he believes our reporting is incorrect.
His partner, Georgiana Lupu, is listed as the sole shareholder for Gold Guard Security. Lupu claimed that this website’s reporting was inaccurate.
Our analysis shows that Gold Guard was awarded a total of €7 million in public contracts since it was set up in 2015. Executive Security was set up in 2008.
In 2016, news reports confirmed that Ciangura – who served as a lance bombardier in the Armed Forces of Malta – was not formally given permission to obtain a security license by the AFM.
Ciangura’s profile in the press was elevated when he became Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando’s personal security guard – with the Labour Party publicly claiming they were paying for the extra security afforded to the former Nationalist MP turned Rwandan ambassador.
The other 11%
Given that it is virtually impossible to include further detail about every company we investigated without making this investigation too unwieldy to read, we summarised the rest of our more pertinent findings.
You may also find all of the data we referred to at the bottom of this article:
Questionable public procurement practices: as can be ascertained by our data further below, we tracked dozens of direct orders which went above the €10,000 limit and noted several variations across multiple tenders.
Grange Security: obtaining 3% of the total pot of public funding under analysis, Grange Security’s annual accounts also indicate a high degree of dependence on government funding.
OZO Group: earning a total of €8.3 million from contracts awarded to its subsidiaries, the Zammit Tabona-owned labour services company provided detailed answers to our queries about its operations.
Protection Services: owned by former AFM lance corporal Jason Pisani, this firm made a relatively small amount of money from public procurement when compared with its larger competitors: we tracked around €2 million in total.
When asked for a general comment about public contracts related to his company, Pisani deflected and told this website he could instead “give a detailed description and info about companies that earned hundreds of millions in that period.”
Pressed to comment further about his own slice of the pie, he refused to provide a comment for this joint investigation, accusing us of “attempting to involve (him) in a political inquiry.”
Four Police Reports, Two Arraignments Linked to Abortion Pills Since 2018
Traveling for Abortion Up to 25 Times More Expensive Than Pills
“I remember sitting on the edge of the bathtub, Googling ‘abortion in Malta,’ then panicking, thinking they were going to trace my search back to my IP address… Imma paranojja ridikula. Well, it’s not ridiculous because it’s not unrealistic…”
*Stephanie was 25 and had just begun a new scholastic year working as a secondary school teacher when she unexpectedly became pregnant, despite using contraception.
Her abortion was one of over 2,000 cases in Malta in the past five years for which women have used pills shipped from international organisations that provide them, according to data kept by the two main abortion pill suppliers and shared with Amphora Media through local NGO Doctors for Choice. The data was shared as part of the European cross-border investigation Exporting Abortion, coordinated by Público (Spain).
The numbers signal that Malta’s near-total abortion ban has not stopped women from seeking abortions. Rather, access to abortion pills is increasingly leading to more self-managed terminations.
Yet, the framework of illegality and stigma fosters a climate of fear, risk, and isolation as these procedures continue to take place outside the healthcare system.
In an interview with Amphora Media, held in a private location, Stephanie described the experience of having an abortion within this climate as triggering “all the worst emotions” — fear, anger, shame and mistrust; including towards her siblings, her gynae and even her GP.
“You feel angry at the state, frustrated, you are nauseous and worried about the actual abortion and worried about being caught. So there are a lot of layers to the upset, because it is distressing… And that is what made the whole thing difficult. Not the procedure,” Stephanie said.
Dr Natalie Psaila Stabile, a specialist in family medicine and co-founder of Doctors for Choice Malta, speaks to women daily who want to have, or have had, abortions, through the NGO’s Abortion Doula Support Service that she helps run. The service offers women free, confidential abortion information and support.
Without hearing the interviewee’s story, she echoed Stephanie’s fears as ones expressed by the women she talks to.
“People get very concerned about the pills being stuck at customs or being found out… Some fear being reported by family members, partners, or even their ex-partners. Some are in abusive relationships where their partner wants them to keep the pregnancy, and they don’t — as this ties them down even more”.
The safety of pills purchased online, potential complications, and how to recognise excessive bleeding or failed procedures are other concerns the women who speak to Dr Psaila Stabile raise.
A portrait of Professor Isabel Stabile (left) and Dr Natalie Psaila Stabile (right) – mother and daughter and the co-founders of Doctors for Choice Malta.
Psaila Stabile’s mother, Professor Isabel Stabile, a gynaecologist and the co-founder of Doctors for Choice Malta, told Amphora Media that from a medical point of view, the pills are safe, save for a “rare” occurrence of very heavy bleeding, which would require hospital care.
The latter is the scenario which women taking the pills fear – having to need to go to hospital and risk the chance of being found out.
Four Police Reports Linked to Abortion Pills Since 2018 – Two Arraigned
While the fear of being reported to the police is a main concern for women using abortion pills, since 2018, only four reports have been filed with the police in relation to the pills –two in 2023 and two in 2024.
Through a freedom of information request, Amphora Media found that two reports led to arraignments in court, one did not lead to any charges, and one is currently being investigated.
Additionally, a recent report by Voice For Choice revealed that between a longer timeframe – 2012 and November 2024 – three of seven reports on abortions that were sent to the police, were made by healthcare professionals, while the remaining four reports were filed by partners, former partners or family members.
Under Maltese law, it is legal to purchase the pills, possess them, and even consume them. It is only illegal to consume them while pregnant.
Malta has the strictest abortion laws in the EU – allowing a legal abortion only in cases where a woman has a medical complication which may put her life at immediate risk, or that places her health in grave jeopardy which may lead to death.
Under the Criminal Code, a woman who causes her own miscarriage or consents to an abortion can face 18 months to three years in prison. No one has been imprisoned for having an abortion in the last 25 years.
Abortion Pill Shipments Double in Four Years
The data provided to Amphora Media by Doctors for Choice lists shipments from the two main organisations that provide abortion pills: Women on Web and Women Help Women. The figures specifically account for pills ordered for immediate use, excluding precautionary or “advanced provision” orders.
Professor Stabile stated that the pills shipped “are taken”, thus making them a reliable indicator of how many abortions are occurring in Malta each year.
The numbers have surged, more than doubling since 2020. In 2024 alone, 590 shipments were made, almost double the 289 in 2020. Analysis shows that from 2020 to the end of 2024, there were over 2,000 instances women in Malta taking abortion pills.
However, due to the legal risks, these abortions happened without medical supervision and often without the support of a loved one.
“They are literally on their own, alone in the bathroom, bleeding with no one around them. That’s not the way to do it,” Stabile said.
The increase in the use of abortion pills has also been noticed through first-hand experience by Dr Psaila Stabile through the Doula Support Service.
The phone used for the Doula Support Service.
A sample of logbook entries from 2024 shared with Amphora Media shows that a majority of calls are made during early pregnancy and are mostly inquiries about the abortion pill.
Stabile also highlighted specific cases she is aware of in which travel was not possible and access to pills has been crucial. In one instance, a migrant woman living in Malta’s detention centres ordered abortion pills after allegedly being raped at a detention centre in Libya. In Malta, abortion remains illegal in cases of rape and incest.
It is important to note that these 2000+ cases also do not include the number of pills that could have been purchased on the black market or from other providers. They also don’t include other potential instances of self-managed abortions.
Traveling for Abortion Up to 25 Times More Expensive Than Pills
Despite users knowing that it is illegal, women are still choosing to have abortion pills in Malta for practical and financial reasons, Professor Stabile explained.
“Women in Malta are generally not travelling in early pregnancy. They’re not. They don’t because it’s just so much easier to get the pills here,” she said.
Traditionally, Maltese women seeking abortions during early pregnancy would travel to countries such as the UK. However, the growing awareness of overseas medical abortion providers has offered a cheaper and more accessible alternative.
While the numbers for travelling in early pregnancy have dwindled and changed, women still travel for procedures following the 12-week time limit catered for by the pills.
The abortion pills – mifepristone and misoprostol – which are considered as safe options by the World Health Organisation cost 25 times less than traveling abroad for a procedure. While a medical abortion costs between €80 and €120, traveling for an abortion can cost between €2,000 and €3,000 (not including time taken off work, childcare costs, etc.)
Echoing Professor Stabile, Stephanie told Amphora Media that she decided to choose the pills over travelling, despite the illegality, for practical and financial reasons. “It’s less hassle, as you don’t have to look into flights and accommodation and coordinate your schedule with someone else to join you for support,” she said.
“It’s cheaper, because you don’t need flights and accommodation, and it’s less disruptive on life and responsibilities, at that time I also couldn’t afford to take a week off.”
“It’s a struggle not being able to trust anyone when you need help… (and) although that is what you decide — no one wants to go through having an abortion.. and it was made more difficult than it had to be simply because of the laws that affect it. It didn’t have to be like that,” she said.
Amphora Media reached out to Health Minister Jo-Etienne Abela for comment, however received no reply.
*the interviewee’s name was changed to protect her identity.
This investigation was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe.
Exporting Abortion is a cross-border journalistic investigation coordinated by Público (Spain) in collaboration with European media and journalists from across Europe.
The journalists who have participated in this investigation are, in alphabetical order: Joana Ascensão (Portugal – Expresso), Kristina Bohmer (Slovakia), Magdalena Chrzczonowicz (Poland – OKO.press), Mayya Chernobylskaya (Germany), Nacho Calle (Spain – Público), Maria Delaney (Ireland – The Journal Investigates), Joanna Demarco (Malta), Armelle Desmaison (France), Emilia G. Morales (Spain – Público), Bru Noya (Andorra), Apolena Rychlíková (Czech Republic), Órla Ryan (Ireland – The Journal Investigates), Sergio Sangiao (Spain – Público), Margot Smolenaars (Netherlands – Follow The Money).
The United Kingdom is no longer the primary destination for Maltese residents seeking abortions abroad. Official data analysed by Amphora Media, as part of the European cross-border investigation Exporting Abortion, coordinated by Público (Spain), reveals that Spain has now surpassed the UK in the number of women from Malta travelling there for the procedure.
Public records and freedom of information requests show that Spain has seen a rise in numbers from Malta over the past few years, despite the UK historically being the ‘classic’ choice.
According to experts, the Netherlands is also a common destination among Maltese women, though Dutch authorities do not document specific figures for Malta, among other countries.
Why Are More Women Choosing Spain?
The number of Maltese residents travelling to the UK for abortions began to decline in 2020, coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the shift in abortion travel patterns appears to have been influenced by multiple factors.
According to abortion researcher and Abortion Support Network volunteer Liza Caruana Finkel, this trend may also have been influenced by Brexit, which could be complicating visa requirements for non-EU nationals residing in Malta.
One other significant factor is the increased awareness and use of abortion pills for early pregnancy terminations (up to 12 weeks). However, for women seeking abortions after this period, travelling abroad is the only option.
Malta has the strictest abortion laws in the EU – allowing a legal abortion only in cases where a woman has a medical complication which may put her life at immediate risk or that places her health in grave jeopardy which may lead to death.
While between 2010 and 2019, an average of 55 Maltese residents per year travelled to the UK for abortion services, this number dropped dramatically to 20 in 2020, just 4 in 2021, and 13 in 2022. The figures for 2023 have yet to be published.
Meanwhile, Spain has steadily increased, rising from 7 in 2019, to 14 in 2022 and 27 in 2023.
The Exporting Abortion investigation found that Spain is one of the European countries that receives the most women seeking abortions.
An analysis of different European laws and country-specific situations by the investigative team highlights that Spain is likely a popular country of choice due to several factors: it is in the European Union, it is one of the countries with easier access to abortion (upon request till 14 weeks, however relatively easy to access abortion until 22 weeks in some regions) and the procedures are cheaper than in countries like the Netherlands and the UK(which have longer timeframes than Spain for abortions on request).
Additionally, a change in legislation in Spain in 2023 now permits 16- and 17-year-olds to access abortion without parental consent, and Spain and Malta are well-connected by air travel.
5 Women Have Had Abortions in Malta Under New Law
A total of five women have had legal abortions in Malta following Malta’s 2023 legal amendment. A freedom of information request has revealed that four of these abortions took place in 2024 and one in 2023. There have been no procedures so far in 2025.
According to the law, a medical team consisting of two gynaecologists or obstetricians, one of whom would be the professional to carry out the termination, and a third specialist in the field related to the health issue affecting the woman must give the go-ahead prior to the procedure being carried out.
However, the Health Ministry’s Department for Policy in Health could not provide the number of times when a decision by the doctors’ committee did not result in the termination of a pregnancy, saying that they “have no visibility of additional ‘unsuccessful’ discussions.”
The 2023 legal amendment came about in reaction to the case of US national Andrea Prudente, who was denied an abortion in Malta in June 2022, despite experiencing severe pregnancy complications and the risk of infection after her fetus was deemed non-viable. A non-viable fetus is one that cannot survive outside the womb.
Prudente had to be medically evacuated to Spain to terminate the pregnancy. The case threw Malta’s extremely restrictive abortion laws in the spotlight and sparked international criticism.
The bill slightly shifted criminal law surrounding abortion from a total blanket ban to allowing for the procedure in cases where women’s lives are in imminent danger.
Activists had argued that the revised bill does not sufficiently safeguard women’s health, as it excludes situations where her health is severely compromised. Malta’s abortion laws remain the most restrictive in the EU, making no exceptions to survivors of rape or incest.
More than 5,000 European women have to travel abroad every year to get an abortion
The international investigation Exporting Abortion quantifies for the first time how, even today, thousands of women across Europe cross the borders of their home countries to access an abortion, due to the obstacles that still exist in many states when it comes to termination of pregnancy – even in cases where abortion in their home countries is legal.
The reasons behind this phenomenon vary. Sometimes women realise they are pregnant after the legal deadline for abortion has passed in their country. In other cases, the fetus presents a malformation that local doctors do not consider serious enough to justify terminating the pregnancy.
Exporting Abortion exposes the journeys European women take to access abortion services in other countries. The highest flow is from Germany to the Netherlands, followed by Portugal to Spain. The third most common route is from France to the Netherlands.
Additionally, it shows how women don’t just travel abroad to access abortions. There’s also a growing trend of women ordering and taking abortion pills on their own in countries where abortion rights are highly restricted. This occurs outside the formal healthcare system, leaving women without medical supervision. This trend is particularly evident in countries like Malta and Poland.
This investigation was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe.
Exporting Abortion is a cross-border journalistic investigation coordinated by Público (Spain) in collaboration with European media and journalists from across Europe.
The journalists who have participated in this investigation are, in alphabetical order: Joana Ascensão (Portugal – Expresso), Kristina Bohmer (Slovakia), Magdalena Chrzczonowicz (Poland – OKO.press), Mayya Chernobylskaya (Germany), Nacho Calle (Spain – Público), Maria Delaney (Ireland – The Journal Investigates), Joanna Demarco (Malta), Armelle Desmaison (France), Emilia G. Morales (Spain – Público), Bru Noya (Andorra), Apolena Rychlíková (Czech Republic), Órla Ryan (Ireland – The Journal Investigates), Sergio Sangiao (Spain – Público), Margot Smolenaars (Netherlands – Follow The Money).
By Joanna Demarco, Julian Bonniciand Daiva Repečkaitė.
This story has been fact-checked by an independent fact-checker.
Investigators believe Spanish contractors involved in the Kappara Junction and Malta Public Transport channelled millions to the nephew of a former Spanish MP. The former MP is facing a corruption trial.
The nephew’s companies then allegedly transferred funds to blacklisted former Joseph Muscat government advisor Shiv Nair.
Former Transport Malta CEO James Piscopo received suspicious cheques from accountant Robert Borg the same year both contracts were awarded.
Transaction records seen by Amphora Media show:
Shiv Nair and his companies received €2.3 million net from an affiliated company allegedly part of the scheme.
James Piscopo received €30,000 in suspicious cheques issued by Robert Borg. He also received a net €10,000 from Borg through a separate account.
Spanish contractors of Kappara Junction sent €263,000 to a company owned by the nephew of the former Spanish MP.
Keith Schembri once used Yorgen Fenech to try to leak documents linking Piscopo to alleged payments.
Multi-million payments issued to Shiv Nair, the blacklisted former advisor of Joseph Muscat’s government, are suspected of forming part of a kickback scheme on the Kappara Junction and Malta Public Transport contracts.
Transaction records uncovered in an investigation by Amphora Media, MaltaToday, and Times of Malta reveal that Nair and his affiliated companies received a net amount of €2.3 million from Aitken Spencer Ltd – a company owned by his director’s brother that investigators believe is tied to the scheme.
Meanwhile, investigators have also flagged a series of suspicious cheques issued to former Transport Malta CEO James Piscopo.
Piscopo received €30,000 across nine cheques in 2015, the year the contracts for the Kappara Junction Project and the management of Malta Public Transport were awarded.
The signing of the Kappara Junction Project with James Piscopo, Ministers Joe Mizzi & Edward Scicluna — Source: DOI
Piscopo received the cheques from Robert Borg, an accountant and former secretary of Transport Malta who has served on numerous entities’ boards and councils.
Borg has been charged in connection to the Vitals Global Healthcare case and has previously faced controversy for his lucrative earnings from the General Workers Union’s publicly-funded community work scheme.
In seven of the nine cheques cashed by Piscopo, Borg was both the payer and payee – effectively writing them out to himself. They were then endorsed to Piscopo, who deposited them into his account. Investigators suspect this method was intended to obscure the transactions.
Amphora Media has been informed of further payments between Borg and Piscopo’s Undecim Five Investments, a company he later renamed and which was eventually dissolved. Borg transferred €20,000 to Piscopo’s Undecim Five – while Undecim Five transferred €10,000 to Borg.
Piscopo confirmed that he received the payments from Borg, with whom he said he has a longstanding friendship. However, he insisted that the payments were linked to a consultancy firm he operated with Borg while serving as Transport Malta & Lands Authority CEO. He said taking those payments was “stupid” but not illegal and ultimately rejected any links to the alleged kickback scheme.
He could not explain why the cheques were issued before the company’s creation – nor why Borg initially wrote the cheques out to himself. Borg refused to answer questions sent surrounding his transactions with Piscopo.
Piscopo said that the Kappara Junction Project was fully audited and stressed he had little to no knowledge of who Shiv Nair is.
Amphora Media found no financial records linking Nair and Piscopo. Borg disputed transaction records between himself and a Maltese company owned by Nair. He insisted that he had never met or had dealings with Nair.
Nair refused to answer any questions about the claims.
“I am a private businessman and not a public servant. Moreover, and perhaps more to the point, my companies have always conducted their activities in Malta and elsewhere in a regular and lawful manner and do not need to provide explanations with respect to their legitimate dealings,” he said.
James Piscopo and Robert Borg
The Spanish Connection
In 2015, Spanish-led contractors won two large infrastructure tenders. A consortium led by Constructora San Jose SA won a tender to build the Kappara junction, while Autobuses de Leon was chosen as the new private operator for the public transport system. On the surface, the tenders appear unrelated.
Sources have revealed that Spanish authorities have reportedly identified a total of €5.14 million in transfers from the accounts of Constructora San Jose SA (the Spanish partner in the Kappara Junction joint venture) and a company called Malta Public Transport (the brand name of operator Autobuses de Leon, a sister company of ALSA) to two companies in Spain: Hasaura Real Estate SL and Translock IT SL.
The director of these two companies is Luis Carlos Yanguas Gómez de la Serna, the nephew of Spanish former MP Pedro Ramon Gomez de la Serna.
Pedro Ramón Gómez de la Serna and another former MP, Gustavo de Arístegui, have been charged in Spain with heading a criminal organisation to obtain foreign contracts in a case that lists Constructora San Jose as a client company.
Malta Public Transport Buses
ALSA is listed as a client of Voltar Lassen, a firm owned by Pedro de la Serna and Gustavo de Arístegui. Malta Public Transport’s owner, Autobuses de Leon, is a sister company of ALSA group. ALSA emphasised that it was separate from Autobuses de Leon when responding to questions.
In the Spanish police probe, Luis Carlos Yanguas Gómez de la Serna was found to appear to have acted as a “commission agent” for the company at the centre of the investigation. Luis Carlos Yanguas Gómez de la Serna stopped working with Voltar Lassen in January 2014. He was not charged in connection to the case.
Amphora Media has seen records of six transactions worth approx. €263,000 between Constructora San Jose and Hasaura Real Estate.
Pedro Ramon Gomez de la Serna and his lawyer rejected any suggestions that he had any knowledge or connection with the alleged scheme – and stressed that Luis Carlos Yanguas Gómez de la Serna stopped working with Voltar Lassen before the transactions linked to Kappara Junction and Malta Public Transport – and had since set up an independent consultancy firm.
Kappara Junction Source: DOI
Transport Malta said that both the Kappara project and Malta Public Transport contract were audited by the European Commission and National Audit Office, respectively – it said none of the payments were mentioned and that it would not be privy to any of the payments mentioned in our questions.
Malta Public Transport categorically denied the claims. It said that Hasaura Real Estate SL & Translock IT SL provided “specific services required by MPT and provided to MPT by its suppliers” – and said these were in no way related to the awarding of the public transport concession. However, it did not respond to questions to clarify the services provided.
Autobuses de Leon said that MPT signed an agreement with Hasaura Real Estate in 2015 to optimise the management of its fleet and later transferred it to Translock IT. It said it used this management software from March 2015 to June 2020.
It rejected all wrongdoing and denied any knowledge of Nair.
The ex-MP’s nephew Luis Carlos Yanguas said the payments involving his companies Hasaura Real Estate SL and Translock IT had nothing to do with his uncle.
Yanguas said the payments were part of a “client-supplier relationship”, and were backed up by all the necessary documentation and agreements.
Constructora San Jose’ insisted that it acts under the strictest legality. Constructora San Jose’ did not respond to questions as to why it was also issuing payments to Hasaura Real Estate.
Shiv Nair – Source: Suez Holdings
Payments allegedly flow from Spanish companies to Shiv Nair
After arriving in the accounts of Yanguas de la Serna’s companies, a portion of the funds originating from Malta Public Transport was allegedly transferred to Shiv Nair through a Hong Kong-based company, Aitken Spencer Ltd.
Transaction records seen by Amphora Media show that between 2014 and 2020, Nair and his affiliated companies, Suez Group Finance and Suez Group Capital, received a net amount of €2.3 million from Aitken Spencer Limited.
Aitken Spencer Ltd’s director and shareholder is Subodha Manahara Withanage. It was incorporated in Hong Kong on 27th January 2015, the same year the contracts were awarded.
Withanage’s brother appears to be Rasika Withanage, a director at Nair’s Suez Capital, who has also held significant roles and worked in other companies linked to Nair. Amphora Media has seen transactions to Rasika Withanage, which are believed to be his salary.
The Withanage mother’s residence is listed as the headquarters of Suez Holdings in Sri Lanka.
Nair has been permanently blacklisted by the World Bank for fraud and corruption since 1999 – as exposed by Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2013. Still, he served as an advisor on energy and foreign direct investment within the government of Joseph Muscat.
At the time Nair denied the accusations, but the World Bank has confirmed to Amphora Media that the blacklisting still applies.
Caruana Galizia had also reported on Nair’s connections to former MP Pedro Ramón Gómez de la Serna. Gomez de la Serna confirmed that he met Shiv Nair, but he described it as a coincidence.
Source: DOI
Kappara Junction and Malta Public Transport Contract Raised Red Flags
Autobuses de Leon won a tender to take over the ownership and management of Malta Public Transport on 8th January 2015. Piscopo, who was Transport Malta’s CEO at the time, chaired the tender evaluation committee and oversaw the selection.
Eyebrows were first raised in 2014 when a visit by then-Transport Minister Joe Mizzi and Piscopo to Spain as part of the selection process for the new public transport operator was shrouded in secrecy.
The National Audit Office later flagged the lack of documentation on negotiations between Transport Malta and the winning bidder as a concern.
The contract is valid until 2030.
A week after the Autobuses de Leon takeover, the five potential bidders for the Kappara Junction were announced, with SJ Kappara JV, which involved Maltese partners, winning the bid in December of that year. The project cost was budgeted to cost €22.5 million and was inaugurated in January 2018. The final cost was estimated at around €35 million.
The project benefited from EU funding intended for less developed regions. Transport Malta even involved European Investment Bank experts to provide an “independent positive recommendation of the [Kappara Junction] project’s feasibility”.
Malta Public Transport Buses
Keith Schembri claimed James Piscopo received kickbacks from major projects
Allegations of Piscopo receiving kickbacks on infrastructural projects are not new. In December 2020, the Times of Malta revealed that the Malta police had launched an investigation into Piscopo.
According to reports in the Times of Malta, in 2019, former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri attempted to use Yorgen Fenech to leak a story to the media, alleging that Piscopo had received a considerable amount of money. Schembri is believed to have provided Fenech with documentation showing Piscopo’s dealings, including his offshore account at Nedbank Private Wealth (formerly Fairbairn Private Bank) in Jersey. Schembri alleged that the funds held at the bank could be upwards of €600,000.
Intelligence obtained by investigators suggests that Piscopo does hold a bank account at Nedbank Private Wealth (formerly Fairbairn Private Bank) in Jersey.
Piscopo served as the Labour Party’s CEO in the run-up to its 2013 electoral victory and was a key member of Joseph Muscat’s inner circle. He was appointed executive chairman of Transport Malta and then later the Lands Authority CEO following Labour’s rise to power but no longer holds that role.
Apart from his job there as CEO, Piscopo also chaired the state’s utility billing company, ARMS Ltd, and sat on the boards of Enemalta and Projects Malta.
Piscopo resigned soon after the claims were made public.
Malta’s police declined to comment on the status of the investigation or whether an investigation was ever opened into the alleged kickback scheme involving the Kappara Junction and Malta Public Transport contracts.
There are few certainties in a football game: a ball, twenty-two players, a referee, and an endless supply of betting and gambling sponsors. An investigation by Investigate Europe and other partners reveals the significant influence of the betting industry over the “beautiful game”.
An analysis in a cross-border collaboration, including Amphora Media, has uncovered how the majority of Europe’s leading football teams & leagues, including Malta’s, now partner with betting & gambling companies.
Reporters’ data analysis revealed that two-thirds of teams (296 of 442) in the 31 premier competitions across the EU and the UK signed at least one betting partner for the 2024/25 season. One in three has a front-of-shirt sponsor. In addition, almost half of all leagues rely on a gambling or lottery title sponsor.
This includes Malta, with reporters uncovering how close to a tenth of Malta’s top-flight teams have a gambling sponsor. Amphora Media has also previously reported how Vbet, the partner of the Malta Premier League and Malta National Team, has been implicated in an alleged illegal betting network.
The investigation also found that 105 companies – operating 140 brands – have deals with football clubs, and many are based in Malta. Football sponsors include industry heavyweights Kindred, Kaizen and Entain, and well-known brands such as Unibet, Betano, Betway and Bwin. Others are offshore operators in Curaçao and Isle of Man, or across Asia.
However, the investigation reveals that a number of teams are able to circumvent betting advertising restrictions with ‘gateway’ sponsors – and campaigners say agreements risk pushing more vulnerable individuals into addiction. Clubs have found ways to skirt restrictions by using brands’ entertainment of charitable logos on their kits.
From the Premier League to Serie A and La Liga: Betting sponsors are impossible to miss
In Italy, the 2018 “Dignity Decree” prohibited any form of direct or indirect advertising related to gambling. Still, advertising on shirts continued this season, driven by Inter (Betsson.sport), Parma (AdmiralBet.news) and Lecce (BetItalyPay).
At least two clubs, including AC Milan, have struck deals with companies which lack domestic licences but still target local audiences. In July 2024, the club struck a deal with Boomerang Bet despite the brand operating without a license, a legal requirement for the Italian betting market, reporters found. Neither responded to requests for comment.
Italy’s sports minister acknowledged in March 2023 that the ban was being bypassed. In response to a parliamentary inquiry, Andrea Abodi said it was “hypocritical to ban the right to bet” while still allowing “parallel communication by the same sites, which simply promote a web address that inevitably leads to gambling.”
The global appeal of the British Premier League has made its clubs prime targets. Eleven teams have a gambling logo on their 2024/25 shirts, the highest proportion among Europe’s top five leagues, including the Bundesliga, La Liga, Ligue 1 and Serie A. With a voluntary ban on front-of-shirt sponsors coming from the 2026/27 season, clubs must diversify. Some logos are moving to shorts, sleeves, and training kits.
Betting brands spent around $135 million on shirt deals in the English top flight this season, according to Global Data. Among them are several opaque Asia-facing operators, the latest in a string of little-known betting sponsors. They are attractive options for smaller teams, offering up to £10 million a year, and clubs are desperate to maximise revenues, says Kieran Maguire, football finance expert and lecturer at the University of Liverpool.
“I don’t think there’s any desire by clubs to do due diligence, provided they get paid. And they’re prepared to not look too closely because they’re under pressure,” Maguire said. “You’ve got the owner screaming at the chief executive who’s screaming at the commercial director: ‘Get the best deal that you can. We’re losing money’. And all the clubs are losing money.”
‘Betting companies exploited my passion for football’: The real impact betting sponsors can have on addiction
“Betting companies exploited my passion for football to hook me in and completely change my life,” Thomas Melchior, a former German bank employee who started gambling after watching a betting advertisement during a Champions League match, told our partners, Investigate Europe.
After 13 years of betting, Melchior had accumulated €800,000 of debt and in 2019 was sentenced to prison after being found guilty of various fraud and other offences, which he said were a means to sustain his gambling addiction.
At first, when he was winning, his account was flagged for potential gambling addiction, and his betting limits were restricted. But when he started losing five-figure sums every month, no one banned him. Instead, he was assigned a personal VIP consultant and received monthly rewards.
“I ‘won’ a trip to London for the Premier League match between Chelsea and Liverpool, complete with flights and VIP tickets. It was a ‘prize’ for my customer loyalty. Or rather, for my gambling addiction, for which I was regularly rewarded,” said Melchior, who was released from prison in 2022 and has since supported Unsere Kurve, a German fan group working to end gambling advertising in football.
According to The Big Step campaign, which also aims to end gambling advertising and sponsorships in football, marketing through football works to normalise betting and “keep the conveyor belt of customers going”.
It is estimated that around a fifth of the UK population is directly or indirectly harmed by gambling, but the main lobby group for the UK betting industry claims that there is no evidence supporting a link between sports advertising and problem gambling.
Charles Livingstone, a member of the World Health Organisation’s Expert Group on Gambling and Gambling Disorder, says research clearly shows that the more exposure you have to gambling ads, the more likely you are to gamble.
Magisterial inquiries have been one of Malta’s few avenues for citizens to seek justice and hold those in power accountable. A new bill threatens to close that door – and recent data shows private citizen-filed inquiries account for just 0.3% of all magisterial inquiries.
In response to a series of parliamentary questions by MP Amanda Spiteri Grech, Justice Minister Jonathan Attard revealed that only 25 magisterial inquiries were initiated by private citizens between 2017 and 2024, a fraction of the 7,650 carried out by magistrates & initiated by authorities.
Private citizen-filed inquiries have led to major investigations and, in some instances, criminal charges into significant scandals, including the VGH/Steward case, 17 Black, the Panama Papers, Electrogas, and the Mozura wind farm deal in Montenegro.
Bill 125 would drastically limit that ability. It has courted significant controversy and was introduced amid fresh requests for inquiries into Prime Minister Robert Abela’s cabinet members. Critics say that the bill has been rushed through parliament and that the government has been unwilling to engage in public dialogue.
A vote on the second reading of the Bill will be taken later today. The committee stage will follow, and a final vote will be taken after its third and final reading.
Data from 2017-2024
Under the proposed law, citizens must present evidence to the police, not the magistrate, and follow stricter guidelines. This would undermine accountability, especially if authorities fail to act.
The Bill removes the ‘reasonable suspicion’ standard, introduces a stricter evidentiary requirement, and places magisterial inquiries under the supervision of the Attorney General, which could compromise judicial independence.
The government argues that the Bill aligns with recommendations made by the Venice Commission, which stressed it should “not abandon Malta’s legal traditions but evolve to provide more effective checks and balances than those currently in place.”
PL MEP Alex Agius Saliba and Minister Attard travelled to Brussels for a series of meetings, including former LIBE Committee Chair Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar. Agius Saliba has reportedly begun circulating a government-produced ‘fact sheet’ about Bill 125.
The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation has urged the European Parliament’s Socialist and Democrats (S&D) group to retract their support for the proposed reform.
Source: DOI
Bill 125 Slashes Citizens’ Right to Seek Justice
Besides eliminating direct citizen petitions and imposing stricter evidentiary requirements, Bill 125 mandates individuals to wait 6 months for police inaction for an initial request for a magisterial inquiry.
A two-year deadline is being introduced, after which all collected evidence would be passed onto the Attorney General, regardless of the inquiry’s status. Given the court’s long-standing issue with delays, this could result in a premature conclusive status for incomplete investigations.
Another major reform is the introduction of penalties for abuse. If a magistrate determines that the inquiry initiated by a citizen against the accused was “unfounded, frivolous, vexatious or abusive of the judicial process”, the same citizen would be held responsible for covering costs.
These expenses could run into the millions—for context, the inquiry into Egrant cost over €1.2 million, while the Vitals exceeded €10 million.
A German man who lost €245,000 won a legal challenge against a blacklisted casino site.
Malta’s Bill 55 under the microscope for shielding gambling industry from law enforcement.
Soft2bet, a gambling software provider, has connections in Malta – from Economy Minister Silvio Schembri inaugurating its offices to its global brand founder serving as one of the key speakers at the SiGMA conference in Malta. However, a cross-border investigation by Investigate Europe and its partners, including Amphora Media, has revealed that entities within Soft2bet founders’ corporate network have registered numerous blacklisted casinos and betting sites – while gambling addicts struggle to find justice.
Soft2bet’s founder, Uri Poliavich, is overseeing an empire that turned a €66.8 million profit in 2023 from Soft2bet alone and has handed him a €57.8 million dividend. Corporate documents reveal that he spent some of his wealth on real estate in Cyprus, Prague and Sofia, as well as over €1.3 million worth of cars. In Malta, Poliavich’s network has a licence to target players via Maltix Limited, owned via entities in Cyprus.
Investigate Europe and partners have revealed that company filings, website domain and trademark data show that Poliavich – named “leader of the year” at an industry summit in 2024 – has partly relied on myriad blacklisted casinos and sports betting sites to help build up his empire.
Poliavich did not personally respond to reporters’ questions, but Soft2bet denied wrongdoing. “Our operations are conducted in full adherence to all applicable laws, regulations, and licensing conditions in every jurisdiction where we are authorised to operate,” the company’s statement read.
Quad Towers, where Soft2bet is located.
‘Casinos stole my life’: German’s legal challenge against Soft2bet-linked sites
Felix (not his real name), a middle-aged German man struggling after a difficult divorce, found himself drawn to gambling. He took out nine loans and cancelled his pension plans to fuel his gambling addiction, and remembers losing €245,000 on a website called Wazamba. But instead of flagging potential addiction, the website granted him “VIP status”, a loyalty programme where high spenders get a personal manager.
“I spent every free minute on my mobile phone,” Felix told Investigate Europe.
“I could play and then call them to get some money back to continue playing, they always give you credit straight away,”Those who run these casinos have stolen my life.”
Investigate Europe can reveal that Wazamba is part of a vast network of blacklisted gambling sites connected to Soft2bet by corporate ownership and the UBO. In a statement sent to Investigate Europe, Soft2bet denied any wrongdoing.
Fortunately for Felix, he pursued Wazamba in the German courts. At the time, Soft2bet appears to have discreetly managed the casino via two shell corporations, Rabidi and Araxio Development. In 2022, Rabidi turned over €343 million. The registrant’s phone number for one Rabidi-created URL currently shows as Poliavich’s WhatsApp number. Both companies were based in Curaçao, the Caribbean tax haven notorious for its lax gambling regulations.
See Follow the Money investigation on Curaçao here
German judges ruled in 2023 that Rabidi, unlicensed in Germany, owed Felix all his losses back. Two years later, he is still waiting for the money, as are several other creditors.
Both Rabidi and Araxio were declared bankrupt in Curaçao following a number
of similar lawsuits. Their assets, however, were safely relocated before the judgements. What was not known at the time was their relation to Soft2bet.
Investigate Europe and its partners addressed 25 questions to Soft2bet and Poliavich. In a statement, the company said: “Soft2bet is a leading online casino and sportsbook software provider, holding various licenses worldwide. As a fully licensed and strictly regulated company, we take our compliance obligations and regulatory responsibilities with the utmost seriousness.
“We categorically deny the baseless allegations and misleading insinuations presented in your email. Any suggestion that Soft2bet engages in improper activities is entirely false, defamatory, and without merit. We reject the attempt to damage our reputation through unfounded accusations or irresponsible reporting.”
But data from Similarweb, a web traffic aggregator, show that the unauthorised websites attract millions of visits each month in Europe, with Germany providing the majority of players. And some of the blacklisted brands traced back to Soft2bet, like Wazamba, have been owned and operated by the company directly. Others were created by the group on behalf of customers as “turnkey casinos”.
Boomerang: AC Milan’s Betting Partner Operates Blacklisted Sites
Boomerang is one of the latter. It received an award at the latest SiGMA World conference.
Boomerang has been classified as unauthorised in at least six countries – including Italy, Spain and Greece. Regardless, Boomerang managed to strike a deal with AC Milan in July 2024 as its official regional betting partner in Europe. Boomerang has been blacklisted by Italian authorities since at least March 2025.
In spite of being blacklisted, Its URLs recorded 17 million visits in the last three months of 2024: 3 million came from Spain, 1 million from Greece and nearly 500,000 from Italy. Over 7 million visits were from Germany, where Boomerang doesn’t have the necessary licences.
The trademark’s owners are four Russian nationals who publicly acknowledge their connections to Boomerang and other betting sites. Corporate filings show they live in Cyprus and Berlin, where the two also set up a real estate company.
Investigate Europe tried to contact them via Boomerang, but they did not reply to requests for comments. AC Milan, who is in a partnership with Boomerang, did not answer questions either.
As well as web traffic data, proof that blacklisted websites tied to Soft2bet are vying for European gamblers can be found in the group’s marketing materials.
The Curaçao licence which Soft2bet casinos held did not allow them to target a European audience. But it did afford them much-needed secrecy.
Authorities have blamed the two Curaçao shell companies without linking them to Soft2bet. Both Rabidi and Araxio received court judgments in Austria and Germany ordering them to reimburse players. In Spain, Rabidi received a €5 million fine in connection to 25 “allegedly illegal” casinos. The Spanish regulator said the penalty remains to be paid.
Evidence that Soft2bet’s UBO’s hand is behind them lies in Cyprus, where the company keeps its top holdings. Soft2bet founder and CEO Poliavich controlled Araxio directly via Outono Ltd, a Cypriot entity which served as Soft2bet’s top holding until recently. Rabidi belonged to a close partner, Denys Butko, a Ukrainian national living on the Mediterranean island.
The two men rarely appear together in official paperwork, but their friendship is obvious. Social media pictures show them spending time together with family in Ukraine. Poliavich even picked Butko as the director of one entity he used to buy a $475,000 flat in Panama City.
Butko did not reply to requests for comments.
Between 2017 and 2024, Soft2bet’s founder and Butko used Araxio and Rabidi to establish nearly 550 casino URLs. Company accounts suggest Araxio owned software rights, and Rabidi was a gambling operator.
From 2021, as Rabidi and Araxio kept popping up on European blacklists, Poliavich called in Butko to reorganise his affairs. Butko’s Cypriot outfit, Interpava, played a key role in the reshuffle.
First, Interpava, which already owned Rabidi, took over Araxio while its software rights were moved to another Poliavich undertaking. Then, Interpava incorporated a third Curacao vehicle, which assumed Rabidi’s casino operations and local gambling authorities granted it a licence.
Interpava’s shares were finally transferred to another collaborator working with Butko. By the time Araxio and Rabidi were declared bankrupt in 2023 and 2024, respectively, the two entities were worthless. Direct ties to Poliavich and Butko were severed.
RightNow, a German legal firm helping players recover money, looked into various claims against Araxio and Rabidi, but could not find out who was behind them. “Basically there’s no good way to track them and get the money which is owed to customers based in Europe,” says Benedikt Quarch, co-founder of RightNow. “It is crazy that those big companies can just close and reopen legal entities and move funds around.”
In 2024, the network’s structures were further opacified. More shell corporations were formed in the Marshall Islands. Casino trademarks like Wazamba or House of Spades, initially held by Cypriot entities, were shifted to a Dubai post box company.
A majority of the blacklisted websites that Investigate Europe linked to Soft2bet also seemingly left Curaçao. They now use a gambling licence from Anjouan, an island in the Indian Ocean which has grown as another tax haven for virtual casinos. Just like Curaçao before, a permit from Anjouan doesn’t allow casinos to access most European markets legally.
Due to the separation of corporate entities and their owners’ assets, the previously fined or convicted companies do not appear to affect the workings of the other nodes in Poliavich’s network. The Soft2bet group is gearing up to launch its Elabet brand in Greece, having gained the necessary licence there, even though 54 of its other websites feature on the country’s blacklist. The company also recently secured regulatory approval in Spain, despite Rabidi’s unpaid fine there.
Malta’s Bill 55 under the microscope for shielding gambling industry’s illegalities
The issue surrounding Maltese-licensed operators and their unauthorised operations has brought renewed focus on the controversial Bill 55, which critics argue effectively nullifies court verdicts elsewhere in the European Union to protect themselves from potentially having to pay out millions in legal claims.
Under a law known as Bill 55, Maltese courts can “refuse recognition and, or enforcement” of any foreign judgment involving companies registered on the island, namely the gambling industry.
The law effectively shields owners of brands from judgements handed down abroad, of which there are an increasing number.
Lawyers told Investigate Europe that Bill 55, described by one as a “sledgehammer”, violates EU law and is preventing thousands of successful claims issued in European courts from being paid out.
Given the stakes, pressure is now mounting on the European Commission to challenge the Maltese regulation, in place since 2023, that is thwarting claimants from recouping their losses. Austria’s highest court, meanwhile, has urged the European Court of Justice to intervene and rule whether the Maltese regulation breaches EU law.
There are around 50,000 ongoing claims in Germany and Austria alone, lawyers told Investigate Europe. The law firm G&L Legal in Vienna is itself dealing with over 15,000 cases, many concerning industry heavyweights in Malta.
The Maltese government and gambling regulator refused to be interviewed for this story.
Operators argue that as they are already registered in one member state – Malta – they have the right to operate in all EU states. In its annual report, Flutter, one of the internationally fined gambling operators, said it “strongly disputes” the claims made in Austria and Germany. It said its Maltese entities are “compliant in accordance with EU law” and can offer services across jurisdictions. National laws say the opposite: a company must be licensed domestically and pay taxes to be able to operate.
Legislation in Malta, like in other countries, also offers the so-called corporate veil between the shareholders of a company and the company. By law, shareholders are generally not personally responsible for the company’s debts beyond their investment in the company, except when there is evidence of fraud, improper conduct or defrauding of creditors, but that is to be determined by courts, and courts tend to be cautious with lifting the corporate veil.
