Dominica may have sold a significantly higher number of golden passports than its government’s published figures, according to an analysis provided by the Guardian together with 14 other international organisations.
While the government’s Dominica Official Gazette report found 7,700 names declared in public records since 2007, analysis from the government data budget indicates that as of 19,000 people may have acquired citizenship for a period from 2016 until 2022, VisaGuide.World reports.
The report shows that the majority of passports were sold after 2015, following the EU visa-free travel for Dominican citizens, thus accounting for a significant increase during the same period.
Dominica has sold citizenship to thousands of persons, also taking into account a former spymaster from Afghanistan, a millionaire from Turkey convicted of fraud and a former Libyan colonel under Muammar Gaddafi, according to the report.
According to the Guardian, since 2009, the scheme has brought over $1 billion to this territory, and it is considered among the biggest ones worldwide.
The Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, defended the program in two press conferences following the report from the Guardian.
“We have professed to have a robust system that we go through in different layers of due diligence, and if somebody were to become a citizen of today and tomorrow morning the person goes and does something and finds himself in problem with the law, you can’t blame the program for that,” the PM said.
Furthermore, Skerrit said that the country’s scheme is similar to the US’s green card, which gives permanent residency rights. He added that nobody blames the US when people commit crimes after it grants residency.
The leader of the opposition Union Workers Party, Thomson Fontaine, said that the problem is that there is an absolute lack of transparency in the way passports are granted to foreigners and the checks that are carried out on applicants.
“Some people who have received passports are nowhere to be found officially. There is no transparency about how passports are obtained. The accounts presented by the CBI are incomplete,” Fontaine pointed out.
The citizenship by investment scheme of Dominica gives internationals the opportunity to acquire citizenship if they meet specific conditions and make a financial contribution to this territory.
However, Golden Visa and Golden Passport schemes are often criticised for being an open door to many illegal affairs such as money laundering, corruption and tax evasion, among others.