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Harvard Trained Attorney Lindsay Grant says the St. Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment Programme need urgent review. Particularly in light of a recent US Treasury Advisory regarding the programme.

Grant told WINN FM news that the Dr. Denzil Douglas led Administration  needs to review the countries whose nationals are eligible to apply for economic citizenship. Grant’s  law firm of Grant, Powell and Associates  is a service provider for the Federations’ Citizenship by Investment Programme.

The Opposition Politician and former Leader of the main Opposition People’s Action Movement told WINN FM   “Right now we disallow nationals of Iran and Afghanistan.  We need to take a closer look at some countries to determine if we would allow their nationals to have our passports…….We need to have an enhancement of the process of due diligence.  Thirdly, we need a Select Parliamentary Committee to have oversight over the programme, and fourthly we need for an unequivocal response from the government to reaffirm the Federation’s commitment to partner with friendly international governments in the fight against criminality.  Those issues were raised informally with the Prime Minister by the Leader of the Opposition and Deputy Premier of Nevis the Honourable Mark Brantley, and very shortly the Prime Minister will receive a follow-up, documented account of this, so that he can have it before him, because we believe it is critically important for our country.”

Grant had high praises for the office that administrates the programme but expressed grave concern about the influence of other forces on the unit.

The popular politician and Opposition Team UNITY Candidate for Constituency#4 said “I believe sincerely, that the Citizenship by Investment Office is doing a tremendous amount of work and a tremendously good job, but I believe that there are some persons who interface with the office who lessen the work and the integrity of the office, and one of those persons is the Prime Minister, I say that here today without any water in my mouth.  The Prime Minister is a serious interfacer with the office, and he needs to stop that almost immediately, and that is why we’re saying we need Parliamentary oversight.”

The future and continued success of the St.Kitts-Nevis Citizenship by Investment programme is in Jeopardy as a result of the international scrutiny that has been placed on the programme over the last year or more beginning with the now infamous Iranian with SKN Diplomat Passport Canadian Border issue where one Alireza Moghadham showed up at the Canadian Border with a Diplomatic Passport of St.Kitts-Nevis which he claimed he bought for $1million. The incident raised the eyebrow of Canadian Border officials and since then a number of incidents including the placement of 3 Iranians with SKN passports on a US Government SANCTIONS Evaders list . The SKN CBI programme came under more heavy international scrutiny after the issuance of a  an advisory from the US Treasury warning that passports acquired through the St.Kitts-Nevis CBI have been used in the Commission of financial crimes by “Illicit Actors”. “Illicist Actors” is the term used in many quarters for “terrorists”.

Grant concluded his statement to the local WINN FM by stating “This(Citizenship by Investment Programme)  is like our oil, or our gold.  We don’t have natural resources, but we have something that can bring us a tremendous amout of money that can boost our country and our country’s economy…since it’s our nest egg we have to guard it carefully, and we can’t afford to abuse it,” Mr. Grant said.