ROSEAU, Dominica, Jan 27 2017 – Opposition Leader Lennox Linton has called for a public inquiry into the controversial Citizenship by Investment Programme (CBI) and hinted at the possibility of his United Workers Party (UWP) staging street demonstrations in support of the call.
Addressing a public meeting in the capital on Thursday night, Linton said that the recent arrest of Iranian national Ali Reza Halat Monfared on allegations of being involved in Iran’s biggest ever corruption scandal, underscores the need for the inquiry
Monfared, who was arrested in the Dominican Republic, became a citizen of Dominica under the CBI and was also granted diplomatic status.
In a statement late Wednesday the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had conducted a comprehensive due diligence investigation before granting him citizenship.
But Linton told party supporters that “we want an immediate end to the sale of Dominica’s diplomatic passport, we are not negotiating that, we want it to happen and we want it to happen now.
“We want a full public inquiry and a forensic investigation into the operations of Dominica’s CBI programme from 1995 and we want the government to stop this business of paying thee huge multi-million dollar commissions to a marketer of the CBI programme when Marigot has no hospital, when the people of Dominica have no jobs…but they say they have CBI money.
“We want the money by Citizenship by Investment to be used and to go to the benefit of all the people of Dominica,” Linton said, warning that the UWP was prepared to mount demonstrations to meet its demands for the public inquiry.
Under the CBI, foreign investors are allowed to make a significant investment in the socio-economic development of the island in return for citizenship. Dominica is one of several Caribbean countries with such an initiative.
Like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CaribbeanNewsService/
Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/CNewsService
Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/caribbeannewsservice/
