OREANDA-NEWSMedia examined the list published on the official resource of the Maltese government, a list of persons who received the citizenship of this island state in 2018. 

As it turned out, among them are the full namesakes of the former member of the first hundred Forbes and the shareholder of AFK Sistema Alexander Gorbatovsky, the main owner of the Shokoladnitsa group of companies Alexander Kolobov, the founder and chairman of the board of directors of the Guta group of companies, Yuri Gushchin, the founder and member of the network’s board of directors Magnolia Leonid Lunev (owns 31% of the shares).

The list also includes full namesakes of the general director of Gamma Development, member of the political council of the Kaliningrad regional branch of United Russia Yuri Nakhodkin and members of the board of directors of City Invest Bank Leonid Shorsher and Sergey Kamzin.

In total, the “golden passports” of Malta, which has been part of the EU since 2004, were acquired in 2018 by just over 3,500 people. Journalists of the Times of Malta found in this list five members of the Qatari royal family - this is the ex-Minister of Economy of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed Ahmed Al Thani, his wife Anadi and their three children.