St. Lucia signs MoU with other OECS countries

Prime Minister Philippe Pierre has revealed that the Saint Lucia government has decided to follow the example of Saint Lucia and sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOA) guiding the Citizenship by Investment Program (CIP) with the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), which has already signed that document.

There seems to be a deliberate and premeditated readiness on the part of the Government of Saint Lucia to support the proposed process put forward by the Member States of the sub-region.

Last week, the CIP saga involving some entities in the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (including Saint Lucia) made headlines in local and regional media circles. Notably, an independent investor expressed his intention to file a lawsuit against some sub-regional CIP intermediaries, alleging certain violations related to the “underpricing” of CIP passports.

Prime Minister Pierre responded to the allegations by saying they were just a claim from a private investor and had nothing to do with a “government investigation.”

The MoU lists a number of common standards and procedures in areas including pricing, information sharing and transparency standards, regulation, safety reviews and frameworks, agent supervision, program marketing and promotion, joint training and capacity building, dispute resolution, and modification and termination.

“In addition to signing this memorandum, Saint Lucia has made proposals to further strengthen the regional agreement, including proposing legislative amendments to address the name change request,” the Prime Minister noted.

He said other OECS heads of government had agreed to review the proposal made by St. Lucia.

Pierre added: “Upon completion of consultations with local governments and other partners, the Saint Lucia Government will recommend further enhancements to the CIP programme.”

The proposals include annual quotas, net assets of applicants, escrow accounts to be opened in St. Lucia or the individual islands, and a requirement that only licensed promoters submit applicants to a local authorized agent and that these promoters submit due diligence reports on each applicant.

Prime Minister Pierre reiterated that Saint Lucia has and will continue to show “conscientious diligence” in this important CIP project.

He said that over the past year, the St. Lucia Citizenship by Investment Unit has developed all six principles agreed upon with the U.S. government.

These include: Russians and Belarusians are prohibited from applying from February 15, 2023; applicant interviews are implemented from September 4, 2023; all applicants are screened through the local Financial Intelligence Unit from September 4, 2023; rejection information is shared with the Joint Regional Communications Center (JRCC) from January 2020, and an international consulting firm will soon begin an operational review of the program; the Saint Lucia CIP department will seek international support to recover revoked passports.

In addition, Pierre said, “The annual report published by the Saint Lucia Citizenship by Investment Program is tabled in Parliament and includes audited financial statements.”

Furthermore, “the fee structures for the different options are published in the Official Gazette.”

He insisted: “The Government of Saint Lucia remains committed to maintaining and strengthening the integrity of its CIP program through a transparent and accountable process that delivers tangible benefits to all Saint Lucians.”

Prime Minister Pierre noted that while other OECS countries benefited greatly from the CIP programme from 2016 to 2021, St. Lucia did not receive any “tangible benefits” from the CIP.

He cited the Dominican Republic, Antigua and St. Kitts and Nevis as countries that have benefited from infrastructure projects, including road, housing and hotel construction.

The prime minister added: “The infrastructure projects we are negotiating will bring real benefits… You will see roads built, houses erected.”

However, he said, between 2016 and 2021 and around the pandemic, “you didn’t see anything happening” while other countries built hotels in the area.

He mentioned that Dominica built the Range Hotel, Grenada built the Secrets Hotel, and St. Kitts and Nevis were also involved in infrastructure projects.