THERE NO QUICK FIX WITH ALL THOSE DISCOUNTED CBI PASSPORTS SOLD TO BAD ACTORS IN CHINA

If you monitor Caribbean media, you have read all those government press releases, from St. Kitts, Dominica, and elsewhere, declaring that any CBI passports sold at an illegal discount will be summarily revoked, and declared null and void. Although some more obtuse Caribbean government officials have asserted that the holders are entitled to some form of Due Process, which is doubtful, in most quarters there is a move to terminate those illegally-obtained identity documents. It's probably because a number of the Chinese purchasers of the discounted passports used fake IDs in their application, and went on to commit crimes in the US, UK and Singapore, that we know of, and probably elsewhere as well.

Assuming that up to 1000 CBI passports are revoked, what effect will such action have, you ask? Unfortunately, little to none. here's why:

1. When Caribbean CBI passports are revoked, it's done internally in the countries where the passports were issued. there is no master list circulated globally; therefore, how are authorities in other countries to know that a specific passport cannot be honored? The answer is, they don't.

2. The Chinese users of these discounted CBI passports have been shown to be international financial criminals,sanctions evaders, spies and intelligence agents.I can tell you from personal experience in the dark world of financial crime that all these people know how to quietly enter a country at an obscure airport or border crossing, where there is literally no checking of whether a passport is legitimate or not. They also, as I once did, choose to enter a country in the developing world where underpaid government officials have no time or inclination to check anything, or where a small bribe facilitates everything.

Therefore, with all the posturing from St. Kitts and Dominica about solving the problem, they can only tackle it superficially; those passports will still be used effectively to commit financial crime, and for espionage, among other things.

One final note: how can we be sure that the Asian company that allegedly sold all those CBI passports at a steep discount, won't cheat in the future, and continue such illegal conduct? How can this new regulatory entity that will be created enforce the no-discount rule abroad?

And where is St. Lucia in this mess? Still hiding its head in the sand, I see.