The founder and chairman of citizenship experts Henley & Partners – which devised Malta’s sale of passports to the global rich – has been reported having briefed a St Vincent and the Grenadines party leader on what to say and on what business Henley could attract to the Caribbean nation.

The Spectator reports emails it has seen of Swiss lawyer Christian Kalin describing to Arnhim Eustace, leader of the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) in 2010, potential investment opportunities with the party’s leader while giving him instructions for one of his speeches.

The NDP was billed over $4 million – including $100,000 for ‘counter operations’ – by Cambridge Analytica, the controversial data mining company embroiled in scandal, despite having lost that election.

Kalin is said to have told Eustace what “we could do with you once you are in government” and what the candidate might say in his campaign. “You might wish to discuss this with your strategists and think about what you may wish to include in your propaganda (having used this word, the below points are not propaganda but is very much a reality if you let us do it). If there is an acceptable government in place (i.e. NDP) you can count on the following.”

Kalin then lists various investments Eustace could count on if he won the election, such as a large residential and hotel development, a new chain of retail banks from “an important international banking group”, a construction group to invest in major infrastructure projects, as well as input from “a global player in private aircraft services” and from “several of the world’s most experienced international tax specialists”.

Henley & Partners told The Spectactor that it “does not get involved in political campaigns” – even though he was suggesting ideas to an Opposition leader – and that Kalin’s email “does not suggest any impropriety”.

Henley has admitted to some form of relationship with Alexander Nix, the former CEO of the notorious Cambridge Analytica.

Henley was reported saying it was not a “formal working relationship” but the company “did, however, exchange some information and ideas with a view to better understanding the political landscape in the Caribbean.”

Under its former name SCL, Cambridge Analytica worked on the 2010 general election in St Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean, where Henley first pioneered its ‘citizenship-by-investment’ programme. There it was accused of having filmed the opposition leader, Lindsay Grant, accepting a bribe by one of their undercover operatives posing as a real-estate investor.

In 2013, Henley & Partners won a concession from the Maltese government to set up a citizenship-by-investment programme that sells passports for €650,000 together with mandatory financial and property investments of €450,000.

Malta has hived off the cash, now totalling close to €300 million, into a posterity fund.

IMAGE:

Henley & Partners chairman Christian Kalin

For more on this story go to: https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/world/85644/passportsellers_henley_and_cambridge_analyticas_nix_exchanged_ideas_on_caribbean_election