![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/CIP-642x359.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Antigua and Barbuda\u2019s Prime Minister, Gaston Browne, is accusing the United States of America of trying to \u201ckill\u201d the Citizenship by Investment Programs (CIP) in the Caribbean.<\/p>\n
Browne said to listeners on his weekly radio program Saturday gone, that \u201cIt seems as though they don\u2019t want us to operate the CIP so they want to kill it\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey attacked St Kitts and Dominica too. And they do that so often I don\u2019t even know what to say. But anytime they kill it, countries like Dominica and St Kitts, their economies will be decimated and they will plunge tens of thousands of people e in poverty and then you end up with so many social ills,\u201d said<\/p>\n
His comment comes on the heels of a report last week, where the US government cited the CIP in three Caribbean countries for \u201clack of transparency\u201d.<\/p>\n
In the \u2018Corruption and Lack of Transparency in Government,\u2019 section, the 2020 report identifies the CIP programs in Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica and St. Kitts & Nevis as citizen concerns on oversight and corruption due to a lack of openness.<\/p>\n
In Dominica, the US report pointed to local media and opposition leadership, who continue to raise allegations of corruption within the government, including in the Citizenship by Investment program and pointed to the fact that while the law provides criminal penalties for corruption by officials \u2026\u00a0the government implemented the law inconsistently.\u201d<\/p>\n
And in St. Kitts & Nevis, the US report pointed to media and private citizens reporting on government corruption \u201coccasionally\u201d even as citizens \u201cexpressed concern about the lack of financial oversight of revenues generated by the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) program.\u201d<\/p>\n
Browne said instead of using information to disparage these countries, the United States should instead work with these small island developing states.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet us work together and strengthen the relations with the United States, Dominica, St Kitts\u2026. I mean trying to use this information to disparage us is unhelpful. If it was truthful, I would understand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The CIP Programs in the Eastern Caribbean countries have been a source of continued criticism by the US and many nationals locally who question the use of \u201cdonation\u201d funds that are part of the attractive offer for a second passport in these jurisdictions and visa free travel to between 152 and 162 countries.<\/p>\n
Five Caribbean countries offer the CIP programs but neither Grenada nor St. Lucia were cited for lack of transparency in the report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Antigua and Barbuda\u2019s Prime Minister, Gaston Browne, is accusing the United States of America of trying to \u201ckill\u201d the Citizenship by Investment Programs (CIP) in the Caribbean. Browne said to listeners on his weekly radio program Saturday gone, that \u201cIt…","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":265923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,235,76,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-265922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy-development","category-homepage-carousel","category-international-relations","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n