SAINT LUCIA CITIZENSHIP BY INVESTMENT PROGRAM, CEO MCCLAUDE EMMANUEL, AND OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE BY THE CIU

Saint Lucia Citizenship by Investment (CIP) Chief Executive Officer MCCLAUDE EMMANUEL recently had a meeting in Washington, D.C., with federal prosecutors and law enforcement agents, where issues involving the sale of illegally-discounted citizenships by CARIBBEAN GALAXY, and administered by Emmanuel's CIU, were discussed. We are advised that he did not take responsibility for the actions of the unit, and blamed others in positions of leadership in Saint Lucia.  Immediately after that meeting, the CIU CEO returned to Saint Lucia, and his agency staff, which operates under his direct orders, took steps that appear to violate the U.S. Obstruction of Justice statute.

Reliable sources advise that these actions commenced immediately after Emmanuel's return:

(1) The CIU went into an operational frenzy, processing pending Galaxy citizenship applications as rapidly as possible. This involved longer working hours by staff, and swift completion of files, including

 clearly risky transactions, which were approved by Risk Manager, PATRICIA PHILIPPE. How much she shares with her father, the prime minister,  such that he must be aware of all the internal dealings of the CIU, is an issue which deserves further inquiry.

(2) Rumors abound that staff at the CIU commenced destroying and deleting all internal correspondence, communications and documents that connected the agency with Galaxy CEO LES KHAN, and several other Galaxy officials. We do know that all the information on the agency's website, was taken down and modified extensively, before being reposted.

(3) Emmanuel communicated to Les Khan the information that he learned at the D.C. meeting, where we believe information in the possession of American law enforcement regarding Khan's central role in the discounted citizenship sales was explained to him. Immediately thereafter, Khan disappeared from the Caribbean, and he has been concealing his whereabouts and location ever since he spoke with Emmanuel. Emmanuel also alerted Minister ERNEST HILAIRE and Galaxy' executive YING JIN about his meeting.

The Obstruction of Justice statute, 18 USC §1501 et seq, makes it a felony to destroy or alter evidence and to tamper or affect witness testimony. We interpret the CIU's wanton and thorough deletion of documents and files, and Emmanuel's tipping off of Khan, so he will not be available, as clear violations of Federal criminal law. The maximum punishment for this offense in five years in Federal Prison, with the possibility of a longer sentence if the offender is found to have obstructed justice by impeding the investigation or prosecution of his or her crimes.

Whether the aforesaid actions of the CIU constitute violations of Saint Lucia laws or regulations, civil or criminal, is outside the scope of this article, and should be directed to legal professionals there who are competent to render an opinion under those laws.

As information into ongoing criminal investigations conducted by Federal law enforcement agencies cannot be obtained, we are unable to advise the status of any and all investigations into the Saint Lucia CIP program, the CIU agency, or McClaude Emmanuel, but we shall closely monitor the situation, and update our readers on all developments regarding any public statements or press releases that may be issued in the future regarding criminal charges.