HOW DOES A KNOWN FRAUDSTER OBTAIN A CBI PASSPORT? CORRUPTION, TOTAL LACK OF DUE DILIGENCE, OR SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY?

 

Take a close look at this individual; he is the Bangladeshi banker PRASHANTA KUMAR HALDER,  more commonly known as "PK," the former Managing Director of NRB GLOBAL BANK. He is presently in legal limbo, but in custody in India, and zealously fighting extradition to Bangladesh, where he has already been sentenced to 22 years in prison, for reportedly embezzling over $850m. When detained in India, he was found to be in possession of a passport issued by Grenada, through its Citizenship by Investment, or CBI, program. Given his long and sordid public record of financial crime, the details of which are not relevant here, how in earth did Grenadian authorities see fit to issue him a passport? That is the question.

What are the possible alternatives; Either PK was able, through the payment of additional "fees" (bribes) which were definitely not part of the official purchase price for an economic citizenship, to obtain his Grenada passport, or the due diligence process that Grenada used to vett applicants is little more than smoke and mirrors, and everyone passes, because they don't really check backgrounds. Either way, PK secured a passport which he had no business receiving.

If a known criminal applicant, whose background can easily be found using open-source materials, is approved for, and is issued, a Grenada passport, then there is a presumption that all the CBI applicants who advance the required fees and costs are approved. Inasmuch as there has never been any public announcement, by the Government of Grenada cancelling his citizenship and revoking his passport since his initial arrest was back  in 2021, then we must also assume that it has no intention to cancel the passports of its CBI citizens when found to have committed serious crimes. How many like Mr. Halder have employed their valuable CBI passports to facilitate the commission of crimes, since the program was begun?