St. Kitts-Nevis Responds To US Government Concerns On CIB

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts CMC – The St. Kitts-Nevis government says it remains committed to working with regional and international allies in bringing changes to the Citizenship by Investment Program (CIB) amid concerned raised by the United States Treasury Department.

Earlier this week, Washington warned financial institutions to be on the lookout for “certain foreign individuals” abusing the St. Kitts-Nevis CIP program.

An advisory issued by the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) said those individuals were seeking to obtain St. Kitts-Nevis passports under the program “for the purpose of engaging in illicit financial activity.

“Financial institutions can mitigate exposure to such risk through customer due diligence, including risk-based identity verification consistent with existing customer identification program requirements,” it said.

Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas said his administration had “as a matter of government-to-government courtesy, had been advised of this discovery prior to the issuance of …the Advisory and we are very pleased that these attempts by some economic citizens have been uncovered by the United States”.

Prime Minister Douglas told reporters that St. Kitts and Nevis will establish an advisory board comprised of eminent citizens of the twin island Federation from both public and private sectors, in order to protect and defend the country’s CBI program.

He said his government has long stressed a commitment to working with regional and international allies to halt the spread of international crime, and the matter of the CIP is no exception in this regard.

“We are in the process of determining at this moment exactly what changes, if any, should be made to the Program, and we will be sure to advise you accordingly as these decisions are arrived at,” said Prime Minister Douglas.

He said it was important to note that the advisory makes it clear that the United States Treasury Department does not wish the advisory to affect the maintenance of normal relationships between financial institutions in the United States and St. Kitts and Nevis more broadly.

FinCEN said the CIP program offers citizenship to a non-citizen who either invests in designated real estate with a value of at least US$400,000 or contributes US$250,000 to the St. Kitts and Nevis Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation.

“FinCEN believes that illicit actors are abusing this program to acquire St. Kitts-Nevis citizenship in order to mask their identity and geographic background for the purpose of evading U.S. or international sanctions or engaging in other financial crime,” said the advisory dated May 20.

It said, for example, FinCEN believes that several Iranian nationals designated by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) have obtained passports issued through the CIP program.

“While many countries offer programs similar to the St. Kitts-Nevis Citizenship-by-Investment program, the St. Kitts-Nevis program is attractive to illicit actors because the program, as administered, maintains lax controls as to who may be granted citizenship.

Prime Minister Douglas said that the security measures of the Citizenship by Investment Program are robust and the Unit works alongside national agencies to ensure good governance.

“This we will continue to do,” said Prime Minister Douglas, pointing out that criminals become ever more ingenious at finding ways to break the law and St. Kitts and Nevis, like all other countries, “need to ensure that we stay ahead of these types with constant review and constant upgrading of our security checks.

“The government is aware of the new and emerging threats posed by transnational organized criminal activities and we have prioritized training in areas such as cyber-crime to assist in detection and apprehension,” said Dr. Douglas.

He said it is already a matter of established policy that St. Kitts and Nevis will revoke citizenship if any St. Kitts and Nevis economic citizen becomes involved in criminality.

“This is a current policy. And we will not hesitate to enforce it. It is in our nation’s interest to ensure there is continued confidence in our CBI program and so we will be certain to enhance our security measures as appropriate,” said the Prime Minister.