Dubai firm named in St Kitts-Nevis citizenship-by-investment scandal

2018/12/04 Leave a comment

Yet another one:

Copies of letters, emails and other documents in the possession of Caribbean News Now reveal that Savory & Partners, a Dubai-based citizenship by investment (CBI) agent with a claimed 200-year British pedigree, has seemingly been diverting investors from the St Kitts and Nevis government’s Hurricane Relief/Sustainable Growth Funds into a real estate development.

As reported previously, a letter purportedly sent by the Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU) of St Kitts and Nevis to a local authorised agent has been denied by both the CIU and the local agent, leading (if true) to the inescapable conclusion that it has been forged, probably using a genuine letter as a template.

The letter states that “the application via real estate option” in a development for a specified individual “has been approved in principle for Citizenship by Investment”.

The letter goes on to say that “payment of US$150,000 must be made within six months”. However, the minimum amount required by law under the real estate option is an investment of $200,000, not $150,000 as stated in the letter.

The local citizenship agents concerned told Caribbean News Now that the firm “has never received such a letter from the unit and has never forwarded such a letter to anyone”.

Furthermore, according to Les Khan, CEO of the CIU, the letter does not conform to the Unit’s customary format and content. This prompts the question: who did the forgery; the remaining candidates being either Savory & Partners, the foreign agents for the application in question, or the local developer, or indeed both. Neither has yet responded to requests for comment.

According to the terms set out in the relevant documents signed by the applicant and the developer, the client is told he is purchasing a share in an approved development for an amount equivalent to the then CIP government “donation” option, but agrees immediately to transfer this interest back to the developer.

In other words, the applicant receives nothing of tangible value in return for his purported real estate investment except for St Kitts and Nevis citizenship, as would be the case if the applicant had instead made the optional contribution to the country’s Hurricane Relief Fund or Sustainable Growth Fund. However, under this scheme, others pocket the money instead of the government, without giving anything of concrete value in return.

Agents involved in this deceit can make upwards of US$100,000 per application, compared to the customary government commission of US$15,000, to the detriment of the people of St Kitts and Nevis.

Former St Kitts and Nevis prime minister, Dr Denzil Douglas, first raised the alarmover these questionable activities at a press conference last month.

Other Caribbean islands have been plagued by similar skullduggery. AAA Associates and Bluemina CBI consultants have been similarly promoting these dubious schemes.

With regard to the allegedly forged documents, Khan has stated that the matter is under investigation by the CIU.

However, since Caribbean News Now has also been provided with copies of text messages said to be from Khan to another citizenship firm encouraging the similar diversion of funds from the donation option into real estate projects of questionable feasibility, it would seem to be unrealistic to rely on the CIU to investigate itself. Indee,d Khan’s text messages are explicit, insisting agents follow his recommendation as to choice of developer when engaging in such activity.

Earlier this month Khan told Investment Migration Insider, an industry newsletter, that “Our real estate option is really taking off now […] It’s become a viable option and it’s now almost on par with the Sustainable Growth Fund […]”

In the meantime, Caribbean News Now also has copies of emails and written proposals from Savory & Partners sent within just the past few days to other potential clients offering St Kitts and Nevis citizenship at investment amounts far below what the CIU has confirmed are the legal requirements.

In addition, as reported earlier, a number of advertisements have been appearing on social media in the Middle East offering St Kitts and Nevis citizenship at investment amounts substantially below the legally mandated minimums.

It seems clear that the specific incident involving Savory and the other similar proposals and/or completed citizenship applications potentially give rise to criminal offences under the laws of St Kitts and Nevis as well as other jurisdiction. This is not the only example of forged letters in the possession of Caribbean News Nowrelating to other developers and agents, not just in Dubai.

There is, however, no word as to whether or not the matter will be referred to local police for investigation.

Further, since the available evidence suggests that the funds in question were or are to be transferred in US dollars through the US banking system, all parties involved should be concerned about their potential exposure to US federal investigation and possible money laundering charges, notwithstanding the claim by Savory on its website that its “British management team maintains a strict code of conduct based on professionalism, transparency and efficiency”.

All parties concerned have been asked for clarification or comment and any responses will be reported accordingly in due course.

Source: Dubai firm named in St Kitts-Nevis citizenship-by-investment scandal

Filed under Citizenship, citizenship-by-investment Tagged with ,

St Kitts-Nevis citizenship by investment scheme named ‘world’s most innovative’ ~ WIC News

2017/11/18 Leave a comment

More a negative than a positive, given the program’s clientele and the organization that named it “most innovative:”

The citizenship by investment programme in St Kitts and Nevis has been named the most innovative investment immigration programme in the world at an awards ceremony in Russia.

The Russian Global Citizen Awards, which took place today in Moscow, are designed to celebrate individuals, companies and governments “who have made significant contributions to the freedom of movement, investment and residence.”

The annual ceremony was attended by international experts in the fields of private banking, family office, residency and economic citizenship.

“This award is the culmination of many years refining and improving our processes, and adapting to the growing needs of the global citizen,” said Prime Minister Timothy Harris.

“Receiving an award which acknowledges the forward-thinking approach and the agility of our programme is reinforcement that we are leaders, not just in the world of economic citizenship, but in what we have to offer to the global citizen.”

The award comes in the same year that the federation was ranked high in the special report by Professional Wealth Management, a publication from the Financial Times newspaper.

The long-running programme, the world’s first when it launched in 1984, was marked as the strongest in terms of due diligence vetting for each applicant. The dual-island state’s citizenship by investment unit was the first to introduce an electronic system to manage applications.

Yesterday in parliament, Harris said that the St Kitts and Nevis CBI programme was about “more than passports”.

Instead the government hopes to “build the country and find avenues in a challenging world, to have appropriate, legitimate foreign investment coming into the country to assist us with our nation-building tasks.”

The prime minister wasn’t in Russia to collect the award, so accepting in his place was a representative from international citizenship consultancy firm CS Global Partners.

A spokesman said they work closely with the Basseterre government on the CBI programme.

According to the award criteria, award winners must have “assisted international clients in becoming true citizens of the world”, either those one specific achievement or because of a long series of contributions.

Nominees are selected by an international jury made up of both industry professionals and the HNWI – high-net-worth individual – community.

The awards ceremony took place alongside the the seventh Moscow Family Office Forum.

This annual gathering covered topics ranging from real estate investment to risk management, taxation to relocation, and family office trends.

via St Kitts-Nevis citizenship by investment scheme named ‘world’s most innovative’ ~ WIC News

Filed under Citizenship Tagged with , ,

Antigua & Barbuda To Slash Citizenship Investment Threshold – Investment Immigration

2017/10/27 Leave a comment

Canadian policies having an impact by reducing the major incentive of visa free travel:

Antigua & Barbuda has seen a dramatic 95 per cent decline in the most popular stream of its citizenship-by-investment program after Canada withdrew visa-free access to passport holders in June 2017.

The Caribbean island will cut the investment threshold for its National Development Fund (NDF) in half – from $200,000 to $100,000 – to try and stimulate interest from high net worth candidates.

A representative of the country’s Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU) told the country’s Daily Observer newspaper that access to Canada was previously ‘the country’s most compelling advantage’. Without that access, the Antigua citizenship program is left to compete entirely based on investment threshold.

Opposition lawmakers say slashing the threshold will result in the destruction of the program.

Antigua & Barbuda Investor Citizenship: Investment Requirements

National Development Fund One-time investment of US $200,000 (soon to drop to $100,000)
Real Estate US $400,000 in real estate property in Antigua & Barbuda. In case of joint investment, each applicant must contribute a minimum amount of $400,000. The real estate must be held for a period of at least five years.
Business $1,500,000 in an approved business. In case of a joint investment application, the total investment must be for a sum of not less than $5 million with each applicant contributing at least $400,000.

Antigua & Barbuda initially reacted to Canada’s decision by cutting the fee for its program to $25,000 from $50,000 for a family of four.

However, this clearly did not have the required effect.

Ottawa announced on Monday, June 26, 2017 that all citizens of the Caribbean nation would require a visa as of 5.30am on Tuesday, June 27, 2017.

“After carefully monitoring the integrity of Antigua & Barbuda’s travel documents, the government of Canada has determined that Antigua & Barbuda no longer meets Canada’s criteria for a visa exemption,” a Canadian government statement said.

The statement added that Canada needed to protect “the integrity of our immigration system and ensuring the safety of Canadians”.

The move was likely linked to concerns over the integrity of the Antigua and Barbuda Investor Citizenship Program.

The program is one of the cheapest in the region, and effectively meant people could buy their way to visa-free travel into Canada.

Complete Overhaul

Politicians in Antigua & Barbuda called for a complete overhaul of the program following Canada’s move to impose a visa restriction.

The leader of the Caribbean country’s Democratic National Alliance (DNA) says Canada’s decision was a direct result of outside suspicions on how the CIP is operated.

Historically the programs have been viewed as a way for people to hide money, but many of the countries in the region have taken steps to clean up their acts.

DNA leader Joanne Massiah says Antigua & Barbuda is sacrificing the reputation of the country to try and get as much investment as it can from the CIP.

St Kitts Visa Restriction

Canada made a similar move to impose a visa restriction on travellers from St. Kitts & Nevis in 2014.

According to sources, authorities had evidence of people linked to terrorist organizations and criminal gangs buying St. Kitts passports to enter Canada without immigration screening.

Since then, St. Kitts has overhauled its investor residence program, although Canada is yet to lift the visa requirement.

Source: Antigua & Barbuda To Slash Citizenship Investment Threshold – Investment Immigration

Filed under Citizenship Tagged with , , ,

As Popularity Of Citizenship-By-Investment Grows, Tighter Vetting By Some Countries Should Be Recognized | The Daily Caller

2017/01/28 Leave a comment

More on citizenship-by-investment programs, by Lanny Davis, who consults with countries to ensure appropriate due diligence in reviewing applications. Ironic that he also cites Dominica as a good example the same day that this other story came out where the process failed (Dominica says ‘due diligence followed’ before granting citizenship to arrested Iranian national):

Recent U.S. media reports, however, have focused on these “bad apples” or atypical anecdotal stories of abuses.  These reports fail to report the examples of nations who have raised, not lowered, their standards of vetting and oversight, so that Americans can gain the advantage of a passport that doesn’t put a potential “death” target on their backs when they seek to travel on business or for family vacation reasons.

For example, take the government of St. Kitts and Nevis (SKN), twin islands in the Caribbean 1,200 miles southeast of Miami. In the SKN citizenship-by-investment program’s infancy, a handful of wrongdoers obtained St. Kitts and Nevis passports. Rather than ignore their shortcomings to remain competitive in the contest of attracting potential investors, government leaders acknowledged the deficiencies and overhauled their program. I should know—I was hired to conduct an independent review of the country’s revamped program.

On December 4, 2015, I was retained by Prime Minister, the Honorable Timothy Harris, Head of the Government of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. We were asked to conduct an independent review of the increased efforts of the St. Kits and Nevis Government to enhance and strengthen its vetting and background checking procedures under its CBI.

With a staff that has nearly doubled in size, led by Mr. Les Kahn, an internationally respected former consultant to IPSA International, the unit has added many additional layers of vetting. Each layer requires a written report to explain why a specific recommendation was made, and that report stays in the file as it moves upstream. In addition to conducting internal investigations, unit officials collaborate at length with international partners (including the U.S. government) through established law enforcement channels. Under Mr. Khan’s leadership, the Unit has willingly revoked previously issued problematic passports. St. Kitts and Nevis now operates one of the most stringent CBIs in the world. In addition to conducting internal investigations, Unit officials collaborate at length with international partners (including the U.S. government) before deciding to issue the passport.

Another example is the nation of Dominica, another beautiful island nation in the Caribbean, Prime Minister, Dr. the Honorable Roosevelt Skerrit, with whom I have met twice and who is a most impressive leader of his small island, has been steadfast in his commitment to a rigorous vetting process that involves criminal, character and ethics checks by international law enforcement agencies for all citizenship applicants. For PM Skerrit, having a legitimate and transparent CBI is about more than reputation—it has massive implications for his small nation’s economy. In 2016, the CBI accounted for 39.2% of the country’s total revenue. These resources are critical to rebuild the country and its economy in the wake of tropical storm Erika.

No matter a country’s size and stature, in an age of terrorism and increased need in the global economy for Americans to travel without fear, the citizenship-by-investment programs of small democracies that need such investments ought to be available with appropriate high-level vetting standards.   International media should take the time to investigate and differentiate between those nations who are” selling” passports without regard to the “bad actors” buying them vs. those governments who have put a high level of regulation and oversight into place and continue to raise their standards before issuing passports, knowing they will depress revenues from such bad actors.

Source: As Popularity Of Citizenship-By-Investment Grows, Tighter Vetting By Some Countries Should Be Recognized | The Daily Caller

Filed under Citizenship Tagged with , , ,

Buying Your St. Kitts Citizenship May Get More Expensive Soon

2015/06/04 Leave a comment

The risks of citizenship for sale and who it appears to attract:

While the government’s citizenship-by-investment program, in place since 1984, helped St. Kitts & Nevis weather the global financial crisis, it has earned the country criticism as well. Canada in November revoked St. Kitts & Nevis citizens’ visa-free travel. The U.S., which offers its own residency-for-investment program starting at $1 million, issued a financial advisory against holders of citizenship-by-investment passports, saying Iranian nationals used the St. Kitts program to evade sanctions on their country.

The passport deal “is attractive to illicit actors because the program, as administered, maintains lax controls as to who may be granted citizenship,” Treasury said.

The program injected more than $74 million into the $766 million St. Kitts & Nevis economy in 2013, according to a budget presentation last year by then-Prime Minister Denzil Douglas. The IMF forecast revenue from the program at about $37 million per year from 2015-2017.

The island’s success has inspired governments from Cyprus to Grenada to create similar incentives for investment. For the buyer, the program can offer visa-free travel, a safe haven from political instability or a tool for avoiding taxes.

Newly minted citizens aren’t required to live on the islands, or even visit them, according to the government, whose webpage on frequently asked questions about the program begins with “Where is St. Kitts and Nevis?”

Buying Your St. Kitts Citizenship May Get More Expensive Soon – Bloomberg Business.

Filed under Citizenship Tagged with