CBI ’is a great programme … but it must be run properly’ — Chastanet

St. Lucia’s Opposition Leader Allen Chastanet has reiterated his support for citizenship by investment (CBI or CIP) and congratulated the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) for committing to introducing it if elected to office.

At a joint press conference with his Vincentian counterpart, Godwin Friday, Chastanet, however, raised concerns about how some CBI programmes are being run in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) countries.

Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, Grenada, and St. Lucia each has a CBI programme in which non-nationals are granted citizenship and a passport if they make a substantial financial contribution to the economic development of the respective country.

These countries have lauded the contribution of CBI to their economic development, including in Dominica, which is funding an international airport largely with CBI monies.

SVG remains the only independent OECS country without such a CBI programme.

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves is opposed to CBI and recently suggested that they are inherently corrupt, a view that his Antiguan counterpart, Gaston Browne, has rejected as peddling the view of developed countries that seek to rid poor nations of anything that makes them more independent economically.

At the press conference, Chastanet reiterated the call that he made at the meeting of the OECS Assembly on Tuesday for the CBI programmes in the OECS to be governed by the OECS Commission.

“And again, I want to repeat myself. I’m not against the CIP programme. I think it’s a great programme. What I’m against is how it’s being run and the lack of transparency, the lack of accountability, and the level of disrespect that is being given to the citizens of this region.”

Chastanet, who was prime minister of St. Lucia from 2016 to 2021, said the Kenny Anthony Labour government consulted his then-opposition United Workers Party before Castries introduced CBI in 2015.

“And we had an internal discussion. We understood now that there was nothing to agree to. St. Lucia, like St. Vincent, we’re already in the CIP programme. And we were in the CIP programme the same day that St. Kitts started the programme in [1984],” Chastanet said.

He was making the point that because the Treaty of Basseterre grants OECS citizens certain rights in all the member states, regardless of the original country of their OECS citizenship.

“And how does that translate on the ground? The first set of Chinese that came to St. Lucia and opened up businesses came by the way of becoming citizens in Dominica and coming over to St. Lucia,” Chastanet said.

“So, I want to say that we’re in the programme, and I think that your party (the NDP) is right in saying, ‘Why is St. Vincent giving these benefits of the Basseterre treaty and not financially benefiting?’ And that there has to be a change.”

‘bad actors’

Chastanet, however, said that there have been “bad actors” in the CBI programmes, noting that Gonsalves had spoken at a press conference about the negatives associated with CB.

“I want to see that the things that he spoke about are true, but have nothing to do with the programme. It has to do with the people that are running the programme,” Chastanet said.

He said that while he has “a tremendous amount of respect” for Gonsalves, his comments are a personal indictment.

“… if he knows all those things that he said to be true, then what he should have done is amend the Basseterre Treaty to have prevented people who are obtaining economic citizenship from the other OECS countries from coming in and benefiting in St. Vincent,” Chastanet said.

“He’s not done that. And the question is, why? Because we’re talking at this point, over 200,000 people have been given economic citizenship in the four OECS countries.”

Chastanet noted that the United States has put the four OECS countries with CBI programme on a visa ban list.

“The Europeans yesterday moved a step closer to taking away the Schengen visa access to the CIP countries. … Europe, UK, Canada and the US want these programmes to work, but they want these programmes to be run properly,” he said.  

He said that running the CBI programmes in the OECS out of the OECS secretariat would eliminate competition among the countries.  

“… the competition between the individual countries to sell passports is overwhelming, and they have not been able to contain themselves. And there’s been discounting, there’s been bad actors, there’s maladministration, there’s pure corruption that’s been taking place that is now causing our visa-free access of our normal citizens to be threatened,” Chastanet said.

He said that an NDP government would have to consider whether they want to run their own CBI or one managed by the OECS Commission, as he suggested.

Chastanet emphasised the benefits of CBI to OECS economies, noting that St. Kitts and Nevis earned so much money that it had paid off its national debt.

“It was one of the most indebted countries in the world. We’ve seen the infrastructure development in Dominica. We’ve seen hotels in Grenada. So, we know that there are some really good parts to the CIP programme,” Chastanet said.

“And I think that you’re right to say that Vincentian citizens deserve to get their piece of what is taking place,” he stated, adding that further and deeper OECS integration will require money for border contro, and, among other things, training of staff

The OECS countries with CBI programmes have banded together and have signed a memorandum of agreement regarding the operation of the programmes.

Chastanet, however, said that while there are talks about a regulator, the regulator would not have access to all the contracts.

“So, it means the regulator is going to wait to find a problem versus providing oversight and direction. So, this is a significant programme,” Chastanet said, adding that SVG had “no impact on where we are today. But the fact is, we can’t run away from where we are today”.

CBI not corrupt, some people are

Chastanet complained about what he said were corrupt practices surrounding CBI in St. Lucia.

“But it’s not the programme, it’s the actors, and we have a weak democratic system where checks and balances are failing us, … and I think that that’s why putting this at the OECS level will help mitigate some of the global concerns about this.

“I know that those countries want to see us have this programme, because we’re seeing that aid around the world is being cut, and we saw that coming,” the St. Lucian opposition leader said.

St. Lucians have voted out their government in every election since 2006 and are expected to return to the polls by the end of next year.

Chastanet said that with the issues confronting the CBI programme, it would be easy for him, as opposition leader, to say that if voted into office, he would shut it down.

“We’re not going to cut our nose to spite our face. The fact is that the programme can work. We must address the governance issues that exist,” he said.

NDP committed to ‘the highest level of public hygiene’

Meanwhile, Friday said that he was “totally in agreement” with Chastanet regarding transparency and maintaining CBI programmes “at the highest level of public hygiene that we can possibly accomplish.

“When I meet with representatives, ambassadors and high commissioner representatives as well, those issues are raised with me, and I give the assurance that the more transparent and open and vetted the programme is, the better it is for us, for all of us, because that ensures its sustainability,” Friday said.

He also reiterated that SVG coming into CBI later than the other OECS countries means “that we have an opportunity to benefit from the experience of other countries and to ensure that we do the best program possible.

“But it cannot be gainsaid, it cannot be underestimated, Allen, the importance that these programmes have had for raising capital for countries and nobody is going to essentially give us a living.”

He noted that agriculture, which used to be a fairly prosperous industry in SVG, is now only 5% of GDP.

“So, these are ways in which we are looking for opportunities to create the basis for a more effective, functioning economy, to bring greater prosperity to our country.”

Earlier in the press conference, Friday said that the NDP sees CBI “not as an economic program by itself.

“It’s rather, it’s part of our comprehensive strategy where we have outlined the four pillars of the economy that we intend to focus on,” he said, mentioning agriculture, tourism, the blue economy and the new economy.