Ongoing Saint Lucia CIP Controversy Raises Questions About Transparency and Accountability
Castries, Saint Lucia – The past week has been a tumultuous one for the government of Saint Lucia as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Citizenship by Investment Program (CIP), Ernest Hilaire, addressed the nation in a pre-recorded message to explain his stance on the ongoing Saint Lucia CIP controversy. However, his approach and statements have sparked significant controversy and criticism, particularly from opposition figures and public commentators like Minerva Ward.
In her commentary, Minerva Ward expressed her disappointment and skepticism regarding Hilaire’s address. She accused him of deflecting blame, spinning narratives, and attempting to mislead the public. Ward criticized Hilaire for not making himself available for questioning by the local press, choosing instead to rely on a controlled, pre-recorded address.
Ward highlighted several points of concern regarding Hilaire’s explanations. She noted that Hilaire attempted to paint the CEO of CIP, McClaude Emmanuel, as naive and easily influenced, especially in relation to a meeting Emmanuel attended in Washington DC with Philippe Martinez, who had named him in a lawsuit. Ward questioned the rationale behind Emmanuel attending such a critical meeting without legal representation.
A significant portion of Ward’s criticism focused on the real estate and infrastructure options under the CIP. She accused Hilaire of selectively discussing the real estate option while omitting details about the infrastructure option, which she claims is rife with opportunities for corruption. According to Ward, Hilaire failed to disclose the number of CIP files allocated to Galaxy under the infrastructure option and omitted the fact that funds under this option are controlled by the developer in China without oversight from the CIP board.
Ward also pointed out inconsistencies in Hilaire’s narrative regarding the involvement of the former Prime Minister Allen Chastanet. She stated that while Hilaire blamed Chastanet for bringing Galaxy to Saint Lucia, he failed to mention that under Chastanet, all funds were placed in an escrow account overseen by the CIP board. Ward accused Hilaire of removing these checks and balances once he was in power, thereby enabling potential misconduct.
One of the most alarming claims made by Ward is the lack of CIP audits for the years 2022 and 2023. She emphasized that under Chastanet, annual CIP audits were mandated by law and conducted regularly, but this practice has ceased under Hilaire’s administration.
Ward also criticized Hilaire’s handling of agents underselling Saint Lucian passports below the legislated price of $100,000. Instead of taking decisive action against these agents, Hilaire’s response was to issue a press release and memo reminding them of the official price, which Ward saw as inadequate.
Moreover, Ward drew parallels between the current Saint Lucia CIP controversy and a previous scandal involving the sale of Saint Lucian diplomacy to Saudi billionaire Walid Juffali. She suggested that, similar to past attempts to placate the public with promises of a “diabetes research center,” the government is now using “housing projects in Rock Hall” as a distraction from the ongoing CIP corruption scandal.
Ward’s commentary also brought to light secret meetings between the CIP CEO and US agencies, including the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security. These meetings, reportedly unknown to the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, potentially involved the sharing of significant information about the corruption within the CIP.
The government’s response to the opposition’s scrutiny, according to Ward, has been to attack opposition leader Allen Chastanet and lawyer Mark Maragh, labeling them as unpatriotic. This propaganda, Ward argued, seeks to divert attention from the real issues and rally support around Hilaire.
Ward concluded her commentary with a powerful question that remains unanswered: “WHERE IS OUR MONEY?” She referred to the USD$1.4 billion supposedly allocated to Galaxy for 14,000 passports, as admitted by Emmanuel to Martinez, and called for Hilaire to account for these funds.
In light of these serious allegations and unanswered questions, the government faces increasing pressure to provide transparency and accountability regarding the CIP program and its operations.
Minerva Ward’s full commentary:
Minerva WardSaturday 15 June, 2024. Summary for the week:
This week we witnessed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for CIP hide behind a pre-recorded address to the nation to explain the Saint Lucia CIP controversy instead of making himself available for questioning by the local press.
I saw him deflect, spin, gaslight, blame everyone but himself, conflate issues to deliberately mislead and confuse the less discerning public.
I saw him try to convince the nation that the CEO of CIP was so juvenile, immature and easily influenced that he was convinced to go to Washington DC to meet with a man who named him in a lawsuit without his lawyer present.
I saw him make statements on the REAL ESTATE option for CIP, but conveniently omit the INFRASTRUCTURE OPTION, which he knows fully well is where the problem is.
I saw him give the number of CIP files APPROVED for Galaxy under the real estate option, but deceitfully fail to disclose how many were ALLOCATED to them under the INFRASTRUCTURE option.
I saw him blame Chastanet for bringing Galaxy to St Lucia, but conveniently omitted to tell St Lucians that under Chastanet, all funds were placed in an escrow account oversaw by the CIP board.
He failed to tell St Lucians that despite his concerns when he was in opposition about how Galaxy had operated in St Kitts, once in government, he removed the checks and balances Chastanet had put in place to ensure they abided by the law. As a matter of fact, the new INFRASTRUCTURE option was created without the knowledge of the public, has the most opportunity for corruption, and we only knew that it existed when Galaxy informed us that they were the developer under that program.
Further, there is no oversight over that program. The money is controlled by the developer in China outside of an escrow account, and with no oversight from the CIP board.
He failed to tell St Lucians that under Chastanet, every single year there were CIP audits as mandated by law, and under his watch, there have been no audits for 2022 and 2023.
We heard Hilaire mention Allen CHASTANET’S name 27 times in his address to the nation, but failed to take responsibility for the degradation of our CIP under him.
As a matter of fact, he admitted that once he learnt of agents underselling St Lucian passports in the market place for $65,000, far less that the $100,000 mandated by law, the CIP unit, instead of taking action to terminate their agency and take legal action, they merely “issued a press release and memo to remind them of the legislated price”.
True to form, and just like when we learnt of another Ernest Hilaire-created scandal: the sale of St Lucian diplomacy to Saudi billionaire Walid Juffali, to appease us, we were promised a “diabetes research centre”; for this Saint Lucia CIP controversy, we are being gaslighted with “housing projects in Rock Hall.”
This week we also learnt that the CIP CEO, not only met with Philippe Martinez in Washington DC, he also had secret meetings (unknown to the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister) with the US agencies the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, and if his trusted confidant is correct, he provided the US authorities significant information of the corruption of the program by the powers that be.
We also saw, that instead of being honest and transparent with St Lucians, the SLP propaganda response is to try to make the Opposition Leader who is merely doing his job in highlighting the problems with CIP that may possibly lead to a loss of visa free access to many countries, the loss of money to St Lucians through the obvious corruption in the program, made out to be “unpatriotic” and an “enemy of the state”.
They even issued a propaganda video attacking the Opposition Leader and lawyer Mark Maragh, while they made Galaxy smell like roses and asked St Lucians to rally around Ernest Hilaire.
It is 15 June, and after all the gaslighting, propaganda, blame shifting, deflecting, attacks on the Opposition Leader for holding this government accountable, we still have no answer to our question: WHERE IS OUR MONEY? Where is the USD$1.4 billion for the 14,000 McClaude Emmanuel admitted to Martinez were ALLOCATED to Galaxy. And until we can get answers for our missing USD$1.4, I will come back here everyday and ask Ernest Hilaire to account for OUR MONEY.
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