Dominica’s Opposition Leader Lennox Linton yesterday called for Caricom to intervene and set up a regulatory commission for the island’s contentious Citizenship By Investment (CBI) programme, while warning that it currently poses a risk of exposing both his country and the region to transnational crimes.
Linton’s appeal follows recent protests by his United Workers Party (UWP) for the resignation of the country’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit and his administration,
which he has accused of mismanagement and corruption, including in the administration of the CBI.
Linton has called for an investigation of the programme, under which it has been alleged that Dominica’s diplomatic passports have been sold.
A protest held last week to put pressure on the island’s government was followed by violence and vandalism, which President David Granger, as new Caricom Chairman, said the community was distressed about.
Speaking yesterday at a press conference at Herdmanston Lodge, Linton said he decided to travel to Guyana, which is hosting the ongoing Heads of Government summit, in hopes of getting the attention of President Granger. “We are hoping to have an engagement with Mr. Granger before we leave but of course this is an engagement that has to continue. We expect that we will speak to some of the leaders, all of the heads that have attended the conference and we have a couple of scheduled engagements over the next 24 hours,” he said.
He noted that the main objective was to have a discussion with Granger to be able to lay over his concerns, while adding that all he is asking for is that Caricom do its own investigation and then act purposefully in the interest of the Caribbean Community, based on its findings.
Linton said the establishment of the Caricom regulatory commission was needed to protect the integrity of Caricom citizenship and to secure Caricom’s commitment to global security arrangements for prevention of money laundering, terrorism and other crimes against humanity.
“The procedure advertised for getting economic citizenship in Dominica has been breached to selectively sidestep due diligence on applicants and/or grant citizenship without any evidence of payment of money into the government’s citizenship account,” he said, while adding that the questionable vetting for citizenship puts the country at risk to transnational crimes.
Linton accused the Skerrit administration of selling diplomatic passports and diplomatic immunity “under the table… to a band of international rogues and vagabonds.”
He said many have been arrested for international crimes while holding Dominican diplomatic passports and stressed the severe implications for the entire Caribbean community and the need to address the issue urgently.
He stressed that it is not just a Dominican issue, but a Caricom one of “significant proportions, given the free movement and other Caricom privileges enjoyed by citizens of Dominica and other Caricom member nations.
Linton related that due to the situation, his country is now associated with a scheme to violate United Nations sanctions against Iran involving the use of Dominican registered vessels transporting sanctioned Iranian oil to China. An Iranian national, Ali Reza Monafared, accused of embezzling billions in the scheme, was the holder of a Dominican diplomatic passport, which is believed to have helped him elude capture.
Against this background, Linton said Caricom Heads are “duty bound” to intervene since the current administration cannot be left “to bungle its way through these serious issues for which it accepts no responsibility notwithstanding the grave dangers they pose for the integrity of Caricom citizenship and the security of the grouping in these harrowing times of drug trafficking, money laundering, terrorism and other crimes against human civilization.”
Linton also charged that the corrupt management of the CBI programme has resulted in “international banks that are operating in the country believing the government’s economic citizenship revenues are too risky to touch and the locally owned bank being severely challenged to maintain its correspondent banking connecting to the global banking industry.”
He stressed that he wanted the Caricom heads “to ascertain the facts and act purposefully for security, peace, progress and prosperity in the Caricom family.”
Skerrit last week accused Linton’s UWP and the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP) of planning to seize power during the disturbances.
Linton, however, yesterday said his party was in no way connected to this and condemned the violence and vandalism.
“The United Workers Party condemns the acts of violence and vandalism that erupted in the streets of Roseau during the evening of February 7, 2017, causing widespread loss and damage to business enterprises and triggering fears for safety and security in a season of heightened tensions in our practice of civility,” he said, while stating that the party will keep up the pressure and continue with their peaceful resistance.
