The home affairs ministry has hit back at suggestions that Malta’s passport scheme could accept money from “questionable individuals” in Asia to make up for the loss of business from Russia. A former UK government adviser flagged concerns about the scheme in submissions to the UK’s foreign affairs committee, which is investigating global dirty money flows. In written submissions to the committee, Shanker Singham warned that efforts by Malta to fill the financial void left from passport sales to Russians could see it turn to equally dubious sources of passport money from China and central Asia. Malta suspended the sale of passports to rich Russians in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. However, a spokesman for the home affairs ministry insisted that the competent authorities have always conducted “comprehensive due diligence checks” which are, by standard, one of the most robust in the world. Local and international databases are consulted in the process, whereby all applications are also referred to world-renowned due diligence service providers, the ministry spokesperson said. These service providers conduct on the ground checks and applications are refused if it is...