THOUSANDS OF CARIBBEAN CBI/CIP CITIZENSHIPS PURCHASED WITH ILLEGAL DISCOUNTS WILL BE CANCELLED, AND THE PASSPORTS ISSUED REVOKED

Geoffrey DuBoulay

As more details emerge, regarding the tens of thousands of economic citizenships that were sold at an illegal discount, and the responsible East Caribbean governments in St. Kitts, Dominica, St. Lucia and Grenada advise that they intend to cancel all illegitimate transactions, the impact upon what is known as the Migration Investment industry is starting to be felt. Some jurisdictions, such as the Commonwealth of Dominica, have already begun cancelling passports, while officials at others, casting blame upon the purchasers for failing to ascertain that buying at greatly reduced rates was illegal, are attempting to shift legal responsibility to those who acquired CBI/CIP. Blame shifting, gentlemen, will not work here; you approved those illegal passport sales.

Apologists at the Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU) in Saint Lucia, have chosen to deceive their purchasers, many of who now fear imminent cancellation, and total loss of their six-figure investment, by deceptively declaring that local laws provide Due Process, the Rule of Law, and a degree of protection against summary revocation of their prized passports. A legal opinion, authored by local attorney and CIP vendor GEOFFREY DUBOULAY, citing a number of obscure appellate cases, attempts to reassure panicked passport holders. Unfortunately, the illegally-discounted passports are void as a matter of law. Additionally, most passport holders will fear that there could be consequences in their home country, or for other reasons, which would deter them from bringing legal or administrative proceedings to contest revocation.

As international political and legal pressure upon East Caribbean CBI states to initiate, and duly complete, cancellation en masse of the passports, a lack of investor confidence in the industry as a whole may result, as well as litigation brought against entities and individuals alleged to be responsible. Indeed, the validity of CBI passports when presented at international airports of entry abroad may become an issue. Whether the industry will survive this scandal depends upon how promptly the countries involved clean up their mess, and how financial adjustments, if any, are made and disbursed to the members of the public who purchased them in good faith that they were legitimate.