A resolution has been moved in Parliament calling for an immediate halt to the Maldives Pearl Residence Programme, which has been allegedly handed over to a foreign private company.
The resolution moved by Hulhumale' South MP Ahmed Shamheed raises serious questions about the government's policy of selling permanent residence permits to foreigners.
One of the biggest concerns is that such a major decision related to the sovereignty of the country was taken under an administrative decision of the government, rather than a law passed by the Parliament.
The resolution described the financial, contractual and legal terms of the July 1, 2025 agreement with Henley & Partners in Singapore as a direct violation of Articles 70, 96 and 97 of the Constitution.
The issuance of residence permits to foreigners is a sovereign matter directly linked to immigration, national security, taxation and domestic land, and it is unacceptable for such a decision to proceed without parliamentary oversight, the resolution stated.
The resolution noted that the 2020 Immigration Act amendment by the former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's government to strengthen reserves by making a five-year fixed deposit of USD 250,000 in a local bank to allow permanent residence permits for buying villas from foreign developers.
Meanwhile, under the Special Economic Zone Act, the transfer tax on “sustainable residential villas” transactions is reduced to 1 percent and income tax is exempt, so the state receives a total of only USD 2,500 from a USD 250,000 residential property. This is an enormous loss to the state treasury, the resolution said.
Separate state and political deception
The resolution noted that the project would give a foreign company more than a generation-long hold over the country’s islands and lagoons and there was a constitutional threat of a “separate state” within the state due to its priority over other laws under Section 79 of the SEZ Act.
It also said that this is in direct contradiction to the people's vote as this is a government that came to power on the basis of the promise of national sovereignty in the last presidential election.
Henley & Partners, which designed and administered the programme, is the company that ran Malta's citizenship-by-investment programme, which the European Union's Court of Justice has declared illegal and International financial institutions such as the FATF have also warned that such projects without adequate safeguards could increase the risk of money laundering and tax fraud.
Measures called for by the resolution
The resolution urged the government to take a number of measures to find a permanent solution to the problem. These include;
- Immediately stop accepting and approving all proposals for this program until a comprehensive law on investment-based residence is passed by Parliament.
- Submit all agreements with "Henley & Partners" to Parliament within the next 14 days.
- The Finance Ministry and MIRA should publish a financial study on the net profit of the state.
- Cut the concessions under the SEZ Act, levy tax at the general tax rate of at least 4 and introduce a special residence program levy.
- Require a fixed deposit in an MMA-licensed bank for the entire period and a minimum period of 10 years before the sale of the property.
- ACC, Auditor General and FIU jointly investigate the selection of "Henley & Partners", the designation of Project Ayla and other zones, conflicts of interest, compliance with the Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism Act, and implementation of the 3rd Amendment to the Immigration Act.
- The Economic Minister, the Attorney General, the Controller General of Immigration, and the Governor of the MMA be summoned to the parliamentary committee for questioning.
- The matter must be examined by a committee, report to be prepared within 60 days and submit annual report of the programme to the Parliament.
