ARTICLE PROMOTING GRENADA'S CBI PROGRAM MISLEADS THE INVESTING PUBLIC

A recent article, appearing in Caribbean News Global, stated that Grenada's Citizenship by Investment (CBI) program "has been ranked as one of the best-run programs, by the international Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and other [unnamed] financial institutions."

Unfortunately, this statement is not only untrue, the IMF and World Bank have published what amount to be warnings to the investing public, regarding Grenada's CBI program. This does a disservice to foreign investors from high-risk countries, who are seeking to place investments in Grenada which will result in the issuance of a passport and citizenship papers.

Let's take each allegation in turn:

(1) Regarding the International Monetary Fund, the 2018 and 2019 Consultations and Staff Reports, neither rank Grenada's CBI program against others, nor find it to be"one of the best-run." To the contrary, the INF Consultations point out that Grenada was just released from its Grey AML/CFT status, and that there are concerns about the due diligence investigations being conducted upon CBI applicants.

(2) The World Bank has also not specified in any of its reports that Grenada's CBI program is "best-run;" Indeed, it has made no editorial comments or judgments about the CBI program whatsoever, and mainly files statistical information.

(3) Given the eighteen million dollar ($18,000,000) loss suffered by foreign investors who paid into the Government-approved Grenada Sustainable Aquaculture program, which was never built, any such puffery about Grenada's GBI programs should be completely ignored by prospective investors, who will want to choose other CBI jurisdictions for their capital.

(4) Concerning the balance of the statement, to the effect that unnamed financial institutions also regard Grenada CBI as best-run, the banks have not been identified, and since most reports that purport to rate CBI programs calculate their worth solely upon how many visa-free jurisdictions one can visit with the passport, we cannot regard these ratings are valid.

When conducting an appraisal of a CBI passport program, do NOT read the articles  obviously sponsored by international CBI consultancies, as they are little more than a marketing ploy, designed to let you think you have found the absolute best CBI program. You only learn,  too late, that there are a number of negative aspects which were not explained to you. Next time, engage an experienced attorney to perform enhanced due diligence, and make sure he is independent, qualified to practice law in that jurisdiction, and is aware of prior lawsuits, arrests, seizures and forfeitures, and how this specific CBI passport may be revoked or cancelled.