CBI POLITICAL WAR IN LOCAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA AMONGST SAINT KITTS OFFICIALS OVER MISSING 800 MILLION; TROUBLE IN PARADISE

Amidst the background of  USD$800m in unpaid CBI revenue owed by the program as a distribution to Nevis, and the subject of a major complaint lodged by its Premier, MARK BRANTLEY, both the current Saint Kitts Prime Minister TERRANCE DREW, and former PM TIMOTHY HARRIS, are hotly engaged in a dispute over which one's administration was guilty of mismanagement, recklessness and compromise. Drew has been using the government-controlled captive media in the two island nation, to criticize Harris' CBI decisions whilst he was in office, and the former PM is publicly airing his claims that Drew's administration is solely to blame for the many problems currently facing the CBI program, which saw a major decline in new applications in 2025.Their very public catfight, especially coming at a time where U.S. intelligence services, and the European Commission are looking at everything coming out of the Caribbean CBI countries, and in view of the American new policies in the Western Hemisphere, exposes the program to additional, and definitely unwanted, attention from abroad.

Kittitians are all asking: Where did $800m of CBI money go, since it was never disbursed to Nevis? The posts of Timothy Harris' party raises good questions, as do the social media of PM Drew; all are asking about who was responsible for the missing money? To add to the confusion, rampant rumors are flying around Basseterre, the capital, that CBI money has been illegally comingled with the accounts of the largest Saint Kitts embassies, where it is outside the control of the CIU, the government agency tasked with administering the program, and holding the funds in escrow.

There is an additional problem; the acrimonious dispute between these two national leaders is playing out very publicly, with voters recently learning that some applications were funded with cryptocurrency, making it virtually impossible to properly trace Source of Funds during mandatory due diligence inquiries, and creating fears that the CBI program will be unable to comply with the new regional guidelines and requirements, making it subject to potential regulatory enforcement, which will greatly reduce its attractiveness in the very competitive economic citizenship industry.

We cannot say whether the Saint Kitts & Nevis CBI program will end up terminated, like the  similar programs that formerly existed among three Members of the European Union, but the problems appear to be multiplying in 2026 for Saint Kitts.

US STATE DEPARTMENT WARNS AMERICANS OF THE DANGERS OF TRAVEL TO GRENADA; IS THE COUNTRY'S PRIME MINISTER'S ANTI-AMERICAN RHETORIC TO BLAME?

 

This week. the United States Department of State, in a Travel Advisory that increased the Threat Assessment to a Level 2, warned Americans traveling to GRENADA that the risk of physical harm, including becoming victims of homicide, poses a clear and present danger. The Advisory bluntly noted that "in some cases, Americans have been killed," when detailing the risks of armed robbery, assault, burglary and rape. Our government definitely is discouraging any travel, for vacation or work, especially including visiting Grenada during Caribbean maritime voyages on cruise ships and on private yachts.   

The Advisory has been met with sheer panic in Georgetown, Grenada's capital, as members of the country's tourist industry, and their employees, fear that the American tourists who constitute a large percentage of those visiting each year, will seriously diminish. One of the leading representatives of the local travel and tourism sector, in a video posting on social media, warned that tourist-related income in Grenada will most likely take a major hit, and demanded to know why the country's leaders were strangely silent on what their plans were to reduce the threat level declared by the United States, by direct contact through diplomatic channels. She noted that the recent Christmas tourist season brought a reduced level of tourism to the country, and that this new development would mean the loss of jobs, diminished revenue for many local businesses, and financial hardship for many Grenadians dependent upon tourist spending.

PM Mitchell with Maduro in Venezuela

Some Caribbean observers point to the ever-increasing rhetoric of the country's Prime Minister, DIKON MITCHELL, who has been an outspoken advocate of both Venezuela and China, and maintained close relationships with the leaders of both autocratic states. He blocked the recent American Government request to station radar facilities there, resulting in their placement in Trinidad, where the Prime Minister and the government support American policies in the Caribbean. Mitchell has openly defended the dictatorships of China and Venezuela, in his public statements.

As a part of his pro-Chinese platform, Mitchell has been highly critical of the foreign policies of the United States, equating its actions as imperialism, which he has delivered to the people of Grenada for several years. It is believed that such a virulent frankly anti-American position has had an influence on the population, making American tourists targets of violence, due to local political anger directed at America.

Mitchell in China with President

Additionally, the Grenada media has been openly hostile to the United States actions in Venezuela, accusing America of making a power play, disguised as a response to narcoterrorism; local media conveniently ignores the issue of undue Chinese financial and political influence in Venezuela, as well as throughout the Eastern Caribbean in General. This has not gone unnoticed in Washington; where previous American administrations have sought to downplay increased crime in the region, and would have hesitated to impose a Level 2 assessment, the Trump Adminstration has shown itself to respond to threats in the region, with direct action.

When added to the recent decision of the European Commission, that the EU, for national security reasons, intends to remove all Caribbean states that have Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programs from their existing visa-free status, which is expected to pose an existential threat to the future of those lucrative programs, Grenada may face  an income loss there, resulting in an uncertain financial future, in large part brought on by its own CBI actions, and that of its Prime Minister, in taking sides against American foreign policy, on all issues. 

AMERICAN COMPLIANCE OFFICERS: RAISE COUNTRY RISK ON THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

This Iranian warship, sitting docked in port in the Republic of South Africa, as part of a massive maritime military exercise that includes China and Russia, reminds compliance officers at U.S. banks that money launderers working for sanctioned jurisdictions, as well as non-state actors, can easily use South Africa's financial institutions to receive funds, and to transfer them outward, as sanctioned countries and terrorist organizations for the United States, do business there. Hezbollah actually maintains fundraising offices there.

From a purely political viewpoint BRICS+, the group of mainly totalitarian states that South Africa is a member of, is an economic union, not a military alliance. President Donald, among others in the US Government, is not happy America's opponents are training their naval forces off the African coast, and sanctions of some sort on South Africa, which ha already reportedly lost American aid, could follow.

Compliance officers at American financial institutions would be well advised to examine any significant financial transaction they encounter, when not directly related to an existing client's international book of business. I submit that any compliance officer reading this article, who is charged with the regular assessment of Country Risk, examine the situation with South Africa, and based upon the facts, choose to raise Country Risk on RSA to Elevated at this time.

CBI PASSPORT HOLDERS WHO WANT TO USE CANADA'S VISA-FREE ENTRY (eTA) HAD BETTER READ THE FINE PRINT

Citizens from three of the Eastern Caribbean states that have CBI or CIP economic passport sales programs (Antigua & Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Saint Lucia) are eligible for Canada's visa-free program (known as eTA), to avoid the new, extremely complex and demanding requirements necessary to qualify for a visa for Canada. They therefore need not supply evidence of employment, actual bona fide residency and family ties in the country that has issued their passport.

But before all those CBI passport holders from those island states line up to tour the Provinces of Canada, or visit friends and family who live there, please note that visa-free entry requires that one have either:
(1) A current visa to enter the United States, or
(2) Have received a visa to enter Canada during the past ten years.

Thus, in essence, Canada has found a clever way to block Caribbean CBI passport holders, without the bad press associated with an order declaring those identity documents not valid for entry, as very few nationals from Iran, Russia, North Korea and other high-risk nations, who are CBI passport holders, qualify on either.

We note that the Commonwealth of Dominica, who visa-free entry to the UK was ended two years ago, whose passport holders are restricted from entering the US, and who are looking at the imminent loss of EU visa-free privileges, are not even on the Canada visa- free list. Apparently, Canadian authorities have decided that the jurisdiction's passport holders pose a threat to national security; a wise move, on the part of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, in our humble opinion.

WE NAME THE VENEZUELANS WHOSE ACCOUNTS WERE BLOCKED BY THE SWISS AFTER MADURO WAS ARRESTED BY THE U.S.

I really don't know why I had to dig for this information; this list should have been on the desk of every compliance officer at the world's largest banks last week.

NICOLAS MADURO MOROS 23 11 1962
JAVIER ALVARADO OCHOA. 01 10 1955
ALEJANDRO JOSE ANDRADE CEDENO 02 08 1964
JORGE ALBERTO ARREAZA MONTSERRAT 06 06 1973
ANGELICA MARIA BARRIOS NORIEGA. 31 03 1981
LEOPOLDO ALEJANDRO BETANCOURT LOPEZ 22 02 1980
PEDRO BINAGGIA 30 12 1969
EUDOMARIO CARRUYO RONDON 03 05 1945
MARLENY JOSEFINA CONTRERAS HERNANDEZ 24 05 1969
FRANCISCO ANTONIO GURUCEAGA CONVIT. 23 06 1978
LUIS CARLOS DE LEON PEREZ 19 04 1976
HAIMAN EL TROUDI DOUWARA 16 06 1970
OMAR JESUS FARIAS LUCES 15 08 1962
CILIA ADELA GAVIDIA DE FLORES 15 10 1956
WALTER JACOB GAVIDIA FLORES 15 12 1978
YOSSER DANIEL GAVIDIA FLORES 11 10 1988
YOSWAL ALEXANDER GAVIDIA FLORES 06 08 1990
LEONARDO GONZALES DELLAN 11 06 1966
EUDORO ANTONIO GONZALES DELLAN 25 09 1974
JOSE ANGEL GONZALES DELLAN. 24 10 1967
RAUL ANTONIO GORRIN BELISARO 22 11 1968
ALEJANDRO ISTURIZ CHIESA 19 11 1984
FRANCISCO RAfAEL JIMENEZ VILLARROEL 04 10 1949
ADOLFO LEDO NASS UNKNOWN
ALVARO LEDO NASS UNKNOWN
CARLOS ERIK MALPICA FLORES 17 09 1972
GUSTAVO ADOLFO PERDOMO ROSALES 05 02 1979
RAFAEL DARIO RAMIREZ CARRENO 04 08 1963
DIEGO JOSE SALAZAR CARRENO 23 02 1968
ABRAHAM JOSE SHIERA BASTIDAS 29 05 1963
PEDRO JOSE DE JESUS BENITO TREBBAU LOPEZ. 18 09 1983
CARMELO ANTONIO URDANETA AQUI 12 10 1973

NERVIS GERARDO VILLALOBOS CARDENAS 11 06 1967
MARIA ISABEL VILLALOBOS ORONO 27 08 1990
NERVIS ALEJANDRO VILLALOBOS 19 07 1994
RAFAEL EDUARDO WOLKMAR CEDENO 0903 1947
SIMON ALEJANDRO ZERPA DELGADO 28 08 1983

WE FOCUS ON CORRUPTION IN ANGUILLA

Longtime readers of my articles, and those who have read my autobiography, THE LAUNDRY MAN (Penguin Random House 2012), know that the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla was one of my favorite jurisdictions when I worked as a money launderer in the nineteen eighties. Both the local government and the private sector there pointedly ignored rampant financial crime during that period, and I know that a number of reforms have been instituted since that period, but it has been brought to my attention details of significant instances of corruption there, and I am endeavouring to investigate them, and to report back to my readers.

The corruption involves offshore company formation entities, foreign attorneys operating in Anguilla, government agencies, and senior government officials. I will be reporting extensively on my investigation, and the conclusions that I have reached; stay tuned.   

CORRUPTION IN DOMINICA'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM EXTENDS FAR BEYOND THE MALIK SKERRIT SCANDAL, TO THE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR HERSELF

Director of Public Prosecutions SHERMA DALRYMPLE

Dominica readers have been sending in requests for more information about the MALIK SKERRIT case, where the son of the country's Prime Minister was rushed out of the country after he committed Manslaughter by motor vehicle, using a brand new diplomatic passport he was not authorized by law to possess. Our investigation has uncovered these disturbing details:

(1) Skerrit committed the criminal offense whilst driving a vehicle owned by PETRO CARIBE, the Venezuelan government oil company that sells petroleum to the Eastern Caribbean states on credit. No, he was not legally authorized to use the vehicle, which is restricted to employees of the company;Malik Skerrit has never been an employee of that Venezuelan entity, and remember, he has no valid driver's license to be behind the wheel of any motor vehicle. That specific vehicle was known to not be roadworthy, and should never have been in operation, according to my sources, which is direct evidence of criminal negligence. 

(2) This wasn't the first serious accident that the police and Public Prosecutor covered up for him. He previously was illegally driving a government vehicle when he was involved in major accident that was found to be his fault. The government vehicle was serious damaged, and yes, of course, it can only be driven by government employees, of which Malik Skerrit was not one. 

(3) Not only did the Dominica Police not charge him with Manslaughter, upon specific instructions from Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, they failed to conduct any criminal investigation of the fatal incident, even after the victim died in hospital, which makes a formal inquiry mandatory under Dominican law.

(4) We also know that the DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS,  SHERMA DALRYMPLE, personally directed that no file be opened involving Malik Skerrit. The DPP, as she is locally referred to, was appointed by the Prime Minister, and is widely known to follow his direction on charging matters, rather than the law. Before she became DPP, Dalrymple was allegedly involved in a scandal where USD$500,000 in drug proceeds was found in a house at Terre Plat, Portsmouth; her car was at the location, and the men whom the police said would have been investigated and charged but never were, were found to be driving her car. At that time she wasn’t yet the DPP; The corrupt Skerrit regime realized she was the perfect person to satisfy their illegal demands, since she was tainted just like the government, and the reason they made her their DPP.

It get worse; the DPP is in an intimate relationship with a notorious criminal known to be involved in narcotics trafficking and who has been involved in several drive-by shootings and extrajudicial executions. He has never been charged with any of these offenses, and has publicly bragged of his immunity from criminal prosecution, stating that he "has the DPP in his bed." Major prosecutions of narcotics traffickers in Dominica are extremely rare, notwithstanding that the country has major drug organized crime crews openly operating there. Our sources advise that all such cases, after they have been filed, are dismissed in court for failure of the DPP to prosecute them.

One final note for those readers who have sought more details regarding the late night arrival of drug-laden small aircraft at Dominica's airport, which were under the direct protection of Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit. The planes arrived every two weeks, between 11PM and 2AM, and large packages were unloaded, under the direct supervision of government employees; no other individuals were permitted to be on airport property during the arrival of those aircraft, which came directly from Venezuela. 

We will continue to investigate these matters, and report back to our readers further on these issues.

FINTECHS ARE BEHIND THE EIGHT BALL ON TRANSACTION MONITORING, WHICH IS DANGEROUS FOR THEIR SPONSOR BANK PARTNERS

Transaction Monitoring is an art unto itself; it requires a comprehensive knowledge of money laundering, for laundrymen often modify and tweak known techniques, and unless the compliance officer at the fintech is thoroughly familiar with all the methods, he or she completely misses the transaction, and it goes on be passed by compliance at its sponsor bank, who believes the fintech people know what they are doing, and gave it an initial once-over.

This can be a fatal mistake for the sponsor bank, for the buck stops with the bank for regulatory purposes. Has the bank seen that the fintech compliance department staff are properly (and completely) trained? Unless they have confidence in their fintech clients' ability to identify, and interdict in real time, both money laundering and terrorist financing, there might be a very unhappy (and expensive) ending to the relationship.

Train your fintech partners' compliance staff to your Banking Best Practices level, please, or reap the regulatory whirlwind. You don't need to be publicly named & shamed for an unforced error that resulted in the movement of the proceeds of crime from the fintech, through your bank, and outbound, where it was already cleverly laundered by your bank.