EU NOTES THAT MANY OF THE 88,000 CBI PASSPORTS ISSUED IN THE EAST CARIBBEAN HAVE NOT BEEN REPORTED, ADVISES IT WILL TERMINATE VISA-FREE ENTRY

                   

Senior officials in the European Union, who have recently learned that more than 88,000 CBI passports have been issued by the five East Caribbean states that offer economic citizenship, and many have not been duly reported. The EU reports that passports equivalent to one half the population of Dominica have been issued by that country, and that most have been sold to citizens of Russia, Iran and China. Dominica knowingly facilitates transnational white collar crime.

Noting that many of these passports are issued under names that are not the legal names of the applicants, and such information as dates and places of birth are also intentionally inaccurate or altered, the EU is moving forward to consider  revoking the visa-free access currently allowed to passport holders from St. Kitts, Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, St. Lucia and Grenada, all CBI-issuing jurisdictions. The Uk has already cancelled visa-free entry for passport holders from Dominica, one of its former colonial possessions, and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, due to the repeated abuse of the visa exemption by international white collar criminals, sanctions evaders, and organized crime elements, all using Dominican CBI passports. Dominica's ineffective due diligence program for applicants is trumped by corruption and the avarice of its commission-based citizenship consultants. 

Any such EU action, which will remove the principal allure CBI passports have for most purchasers, may make those documents an endangered species. It will close a major loophole that grants access to Europe by career criminals and other high-risk individuals, especially money launderers and fraudsters. We wish the EU to act forthwith, as CBI passports in the hands of criminals represent a clear and present money laundering danger to Europe's banks and investment firms.