DOMINICA'S FEALTY TO POWERFUL CBI VENDORS IS CONFIRMED BY THE FOCUS OF ITS PRIME MINISTER, WHO NOW BLAMES THE VICTIMS IN THE ILLEGALLY-DISCOUNTED PASSPORT SCANDAL

If you didn't see or hear the most recent press conference held by the Commonwealth of Dominica's Prime Minister, ROOSEVELT SKERRIT, you missed his government's strange position on enforcing the law on Citizenship by Investment (CBI/CIP) sales consultancies, which prohibits them from discounting the price of citizenship & passport programs. Skerrit, when asked directly by local media about allegations that the UAE-based and incorporated (and inappropriately named) MONTREAL MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS LLC, has repeatedly sold Dominica CBI for sums far less than the mandatory sales price, completely ignored that vendor's alleged known violations of Dominican law. This came up after Skerrit publicly declared that his government would cancel any and all CBI passports found to be sold at a discounted price.

He went further, and incredibly blamed the applicants, saying that they had an obligation to learn the minimum legal price appearing on the CIU agency's webpages, and then must decline to proceed to pay any less. This convoluted, twisted reasoning, which is akin to blaming the victim of a crime, is because Skerrit, and other members of his Cabinet are alleged to have received millions of dollars (USD$) in bribes and kickbacks for turning a blind eye to illegally-discounted sales, and processing them despite their violation of the CBI laws existing in Dominica. Meanwhile, the people of Dominica have been deprived of the full measure of CBI payments, which was designed to benefit their country, and not a corrupt elite, paid covertly by a vendor allegedly making millions through price-cutting tactics, as crime pays well in Dubai.

Therefore, if you were wondering why the American banks which have correspondent accounts for the banks in Dominica that service CBI payments have now started blocking wire transfers of deposits identified as incoming CBI fees, you should understand that they fear the serious consequences of engaging in predicate acts of money laundering that exist under Federal law in the United States. So, contractors engaged in construction projects inside Dominica are not getting paid for their labors, and Dominica's treasury is being cheated of its lawful revenue, They should blame Skerrit for their bleak situation; we certainly do.