St. John’s Antigua- Minister of National Security Dr Errol Cort said close attention must be paid to the due diligence aspect of an economic citizenship initiative for Antigua & Barbuda.

“We want to ensure that if we go ahead with this programme that persons who hold passports from Antigua & Barbuda are reputable, credible persons in the international community. We recognize that if we don’t put a lot of emphasis in that area it could bring the country into international disrepute,” Dr Cort said in an interview with OBSERVER Media yesterday.

Dr Cort heads the ministry that would be directly involved in processes that would authorize passports for economic citizens on-island.  He added, “However we do it, the system has to be very tight.”

The minister recommended that government deal with a “reputable” vetting agency that will have the capacity to adequately vet the programme on the country’s behalf.

This was also the view of the Citizenship by Investment Programme (CIP) Taskforce in their report endorsing economic citizenship as an ideal option for the twin-island.

In the report, obtained by OBSERVER Media last month, a key component of the CIP Taskforce’s recommendation was a strong due diligence process.

The report stated, “The country should therefore leverage the experience of experienced agencies by outsourcing this process to specialized firms.” It recommended agencies such as Kroll, Ernst and Young and Bishops Services Inc investigate potential economic citizens.

In an interview on the Big Issues last month, Prime Minister of St Vincent & the Grenadines, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, said in his view small Caribbean countries would not have the capacity to adequately scrutinize foreign investors attempting to become economic citizens.

“If one is asking whether these small countries would have the capacity to effectively do the due diligence I would say no. How these things are handled is that the country would engage reputable competent agencies to carry out the process on their behalf,” Dr Cort responded.

“Once you have a real tight due diligence process to minimize the possibility of these untoward characters slipping through the net, then that would be acceptable,” he continued.

The minister revealed that in attempts to clarify and strengthen the due diligence process the government plans to dialogue with its main partners in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada to ensure that they are “on-board and comfortable” with Antigua & Barbuda’s terms of economic citizenship.

The government will also seek to enlist Interpol and other checks and balances agencies internationally to further safeguard from undesirables receiving Antiguan & Barbudan passports.

Against the background of widespread  concerns over the ramifications of an Economic Citizenship Programme for Antigua & Barbuda, Minister of Finance and the Economy Harold Lovell says  the people will be given an opportunity to make their input on the matter.

“You have to have something that you are going to put for discussion. The Citizen by Investment Programme taskforce was mandated to come up with a basic proposal that you can put to people for discussion,” Lovell said.

The finance minister pointed out that the government was not attempting to bypass the public’s opinion, but was following general procedures when introducing a draft bill.

“It had to come to the Cabinet first. How are you going to put something and then the Cabinet is hearing about it on the media or is not sure of what people are discussing?” Lovell queried.

He however, could not give a specific time frame when the information would be made available, but sought to outline the process, while attempting to lay to rest claims that it is not “transparent.”

He explained that a few weeks ago the taskforce presented its report to Cabinet, which then endorsed the report’s recommendations. These will now be added to a draft bill that will have its first reading.

After that, Lovell said, the draft will be placed online where it will be available for the public’s perusal. The minister said he then expects that the Bill will then be subject to public discussion.  A second reading will be held where the bill will be subject to a full parliamentary debate and then will be presented to the Senate.

Lovell did not indicate a timeline for this process but said, “The process is a clear, transparent, systematic process and it is unfolding.” He continued, “There is nothing sneaky here.”

Presently, there are two countries in the Caribbean, namely St Kitts & Nevis and Dominica, who offer economic citizenship. The programme in Dominica, until recently, was not properly regulated and was embroiled in controversy over the cheap, opportunistic sale of passports for US$20K to all and sundry.

St Kitts, on the other hand, since 1984, has operated a well respected, international citizenship by investment programme which has yielded significant revenues and investments to include the EC billion-dollar Marriott Resort.

St Kitts boasts the cleanliness of its 28-year-old programme, which has accepted fewer than 500 applicants in total, without any abuses.

According to MP Gaston Browne, “Antigua & Barbuda, without such a programme, has had more passport abuses, evidencing that such abuse is not a function of economic citizenship, but more a function of corrupt officials, and that abuses could be reduced or eliminated by a well-regulated programme.”

He said “the articulations that we will only attract criminals with international criminal intent or to evade taxes, is nothing more than scaremongering tactics. There are many bona-fide investors who would be interested in such a programme.”

“Alternate citizenship can be an asset for international tax planning, safety and security, as well as a protective shield for individuals who live in volatile, unsafe countries.

The programme should be designed to attract bona-fide investors: seeking to reside in a peaceful country with an attractive tax regime; investors from countries that are ostracised; and investors, like Americans, who conduct business in countries in which they are despised and are susceptible to acts of terrorism.

Citizens of wealthy countries who are desirous of escaping exorbitant taxes imposed by greedy governments, and wealthy citizens of countries with repressive regimes will also find economic citizenship very attractive. Economic citizenship could also provide wealthy individuals with increased banking and investment privacy and wealth preservation. This augurs well for our offshore financial services’ wealth management product,” Browne said.