The Government of the Sovereign Order of Malta is pleased to announce that the donations from the trustees of the ‘Caritas Pro Vitae Gradu Charitable Trust’ (CPVG) have resumed. The new first donation will fund assistance projects for young Lebanese who are mentally and physically impaired.

Since 1998, young volunteers from the Order of Malta worldwide have joined forces to manage holiday camps serving disabled Lebanese boys and girls in the Al Fadi Center in Chabrouh. This facility – the only one in the Middle East fully equipped to organize holiday camps for the disabled – hosts over 600 guests per year.

The Caritas Pro Vitae Gradu Charitable Trust is a charitable trust registered with the Charities Commission of New Zealand whose mission is to provide financial support to Roman Catholic Institutions.

The resumption of donations follows the decision by the Prosecutor of the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland, to unfreeze the funds in CPVG and allow the trustees to continue donating to various Roman Catholic causes.

The donations will in particular help to bring relief to those affected by wars and turmoil in the Middle East, to populations suffering from hunger in Africa and to communities hit by natural disasters, to promote programmes for social integration, through the humanitarian, medical and social projects of the Order of Malta around the world.

The government of the Order thanks Msgr. Silvano Tomasi and Mr. Marc Odendall for having facilitated the good relations with the trustees since 2012. The Order also expresses its gratitude to the trustees of CPVG for recognising the value of the humanitarian work performed by the Order worldwide, for reactivating its donation program for the benefit of those in need, and for their integrity and patience shown over the years.

On 1st March 2017 the order signed an agreement with the trustees of CPVG, www.orderofmalta.int/press-release/11440, whereby under the terms of this agreement, and subject to proper reciprocal due diligence, the CPVG accepted to proceed to make regular donations to various causes of the Order of Malta worldwide over a period of 7 years. Following external due diligence carried out by Promontory Financial Group, the Sovereign Order of Malta’s Board of Auditors has given its consent for the enactment of the agreement and acceptance of the funds.

The CPVG Charitable Trust had contacted representatives of the Order of Malta during 2011-2012 and started donating to various causes of the Order in 2013. It was then obliged to interrupt its donations due to a legal procedure initiated in 2013, which was retracted by the Order in 2015 and the case has now been closed by the Geneva Prosecutor in December 2017.