Members of an opposition party are criticising government for “rushing through” applications from investors seeking citizenship under the Citizenship by Investment Programme (CIP).
Chairman of the Antigua & Barbuda True Labour Party (ABTLP) Vere Bird III and the party’s General Secretary Kelton Dalso said they were appalled when they heard Prime Minister Gaston Browne had already approved 150 applications.
“One hundred fifty passports in 150 days in office? Wow! I’m a lawyer and I’m supposed to be intelligent but when they say due diligence, what exactly does that mean? Somebody has to break that down, with details,” Bird lll said.
On Monday, Browne said the applications had been approved since taking office in June. He also said they had been vetted by a CIP unit, which conducts the “due diligence.”
In response, Bird III said: “I guarantee there would be no denial of application because they said they will go through aggressively … you can’t say you’re pursuing it aggressively and in the same breath say you’re conducting due diligence; it can’t be both.
“The US has some of the greatest security systems and terrorists still get in, so what due diligence is the prime minister talking of?”
Bird III also criticised government’s reduction in the number of days an applicant has to spend in the country to qualify for the citizenship.
Under the former United Progressive Party (UPP) administration, applicants had to spend 30 days. Under the ruling Antigua & Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP), an applicant only has to spend five days in the country.
Another aspect of the CIP he condemned was the change to the law that called for publication of the names of successful applicants. As it stands now, the names are withheld from the public and known only to members of Cabinet.
Bird said this is an insult to the citizenry.
His colleague, Dalso added that it left room for corruption; while he, too, wants answers on what “due diligence entails.”
Dalso said, “Under the original Bill, it said the public should know these individuals and when the first person got it under the UPP, we knew because they came out and said it. It is now repealed and secret to the Cabinet team only and this is prone to lead to corruption because if there are 1,000 applicants, how will we know? They could say it’s 500 and the money never make its way to the Treasury.”