STATEMENT BY PRIME MINISTER SKERRIT ON CITIZENSHIP BY INVESTMENT PROGRAMME
- Mr. Speaker, I want to share some updates on the Citizenship by Investment Programme:
a. one that has helped us to transform the landscape of Dominica;
b. that has enabled Dominica to respond and recover at a remarkable pace from the devastation of Tropical Storm Erika and Hurricane Maria;
c. that has enabled us to rebuild homes and reroof thousands of homes in this country;
d. that has created jobs and employment for several people, including at the various award-winning international hotels that have been built;
e. that has helped us rebuild and renovate our schools, health centers, and police stations;
f. that rehabilitated our roads and restored several bridges;
g. that has enabled this country to remain afloat when the storms and the pandemic and global shocks have threatened the economy and the livelihoods of our people;
h. that has positively touched the lives of every single Dominican in this country—including our senior citizens who receive the 65 and over non-contributory pension and are cared for under the Yes We Care Programme; I speak here Mr. Speaker of the Citizenship by Investment Program that has steered us toward a diversified economic
opportunities for our people. - Concerns have been raised by some of our partners regarding the CBI programmes within the OECS.
- As you are aware, I along with other Prime Ministers of the four OECS member states who have CBI Programmes met with the US Government in February this year as well as the European Commission earlier this month.
I also met with officials of the United Kingdom Government on a few occasions over the past months, all in an effort to find ways to address their concerns. - I am disappointed that as a nation we did not complete the process as expeditiously as some believe we could have. Several changes have been made to the structure and
management of our program and I assure all concerned, that this reset shall continue in the weeks and months ahead. - Over the past 18 months, we have implemented a number of measures to address their concerns.
i. We have discontinued the granting of citizenship to citizens of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq, Russia, and Belarus;
ii. Issued Regulations to restrict the changing of names by citizens;
iii. All CBI Unit staff received Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Terrorist Financing training from a US-based firm;
iv. We restructured the Citizenship by Investment Unit and engaged an expert compliance officer to ensure all procedures are updated and quality control is strictly followed, and our IT system is upgraded;
v. We issued notices of our intention to revoke the citizenship of citizens who made false declarations or misrepresentations regarding their application for visas in partner countries—this is part of Dominica’s legal requirements;
vi. We introduced biometric traveling documents to improve security and revised and updated the certificate of naturalization, including increasing its security features;
vii. In addition to the due diligence checks conducted by the international firms in the US and UK along with the JRCC, we engaged Dominica’s Financial Intelligence Unit to assist with the due diligence process;
viii. We also developed a new robust risk assessment; and engaged firms from the US and UK to interview the CBI applicants;
ix. We have been reporting monthly the applicants we have rejected to the JRCC and have given JRCC permission to share that information with the other jurisdictions in the OECS.
x. We have striven to remain on the cutting edge of industry changes and requirements and have been responsive to the requests and concerns of partnering countries, governments, and other entities. That is why I am so disappointed that in the eyes of the UK Government, we were slow to respond in a comprehensive manner to concerns that impacted the security and other interests of that sister country and esteemed trading and cultural ally. We appreciate the concerns raised by the UK Government, with regards
to border control, immigration, and security. We are
therefore committed to working with the UK, a critical development partner, to ensure that we can align our CBI program with their requirements.
Mr. Speaker, we have a robust system, however, we need to continuously monitor it and make the necessary and timely adjustments to what is an ever-changing environment. - Over the upcoming months, we will:
i. Recruit an internationally vetted and respected management oversight team to advise on and oversee continued changes to the management and operation of our CBI program, and that process has started.
ii. Revoke the citizenship of those found to have made false declarations or misrepresentations regarding their application for visas in other countries;
iii. Introduce the new Certificate of Naturalization;
iv. Undertake a comprehensive audit of our Programme;
v. Assess and Reduce the number of agents and promoters of our CBI programme;
vi. Strictly enforce the current regulations regarding the advertisement of the Programme by developers, agents, and promoters; and vii. Strictly enforce the regulated fees to be charged for citizenship.
viii. Further strengthen the legislation and procedure to further restrict the changing of names by citizens.
ix. Introduce robust legislation to strengthen the framework of the programme - We are fortunate that to date our partners have been very supportive of Dominica, its resilience agenda, and the CBI programme. It is our hope that once we have fully addressed their concerns, we will be able to fully protect the CBI programme and visa-free access to the UK will be restored.