ST JOHN’S, Antigua, Oct 16 2015 – The main opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) has warned the Gaston Browne administration that the Citizenship by Investment Programme (CIP) could collapse after a senior government official admitted that an Antigua and Barbuda passport had been given to a Chinese investor even before the necessary due diligence had been completed.
Government’s Chief of Staff, Lionel “Max” Hurst, said the unidentified Chinese investor was granted the passport even though the due diligence process had not yet been completed.
He said the island cannot always wait for the United States to respond or for “a perfect coordination of all information at the same time”.
But Hurst defended the government’s decision to approve the passport and accept the investment funds, which were not disclosed, but which under the CIP Act cannot be less than US $250,000.
“Those who work in the system know exactly how it is done. Antigua & Barbuda is exercising great wisdom in how it is done. Our critics would not see it that way no matter what we say but one in 500 and something passports is not an indication that something is wrong,” Hurst said, adding that as a result of Chinese investor forfeited the funds.
Under the CIP programme investors are granted citizenship on making substantial contributions to the island’s development in several areas. Antigua and Barbuda is one of several Caribbean countries engaged in CIPs as a means of attracting investors.
Media reports here said that the passport of the Chinese investor was revoked after she lied on her application form about never being denied a United States visa.
UPP leader Harold Lovell warned that the CIP faces the possibility of collapsing if the vetting process is not improved.
“I would have thought that something like the issuance of a US Visa and whether the person would have been denied is something I believe, government-to-government, would be verifiable,” Lovell said.
“If it is that they asked the US government for the information, and from what I have been made to understand they did not await the results from the US government but went and issued the passport. I think this would violate the very first principle to ensure you have done your due diligence,” he added.
