BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FOUNDER of Operation Rescue Dwyer Astaphan disagrees with the St. Kitts-Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce’s call for a particular law relative to the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programme to be repealed, citing that such a move at this time would only make the programme less appealing to potential investors.
The CIC’s call, which was made last week through its President Damion Hobson at the National Consultation on the Economy, was that the legislation which allows for the resale of approved properties under the CBI to be resold after a five-year period.
“To be specific, let us look at the Statutory Rules and Orders #52 of 2011. These allow investors with approved properties to re-sell them after five years. This measure, I understand, becomes effective from 2017. This could be detrimental to the programme.
“It would affect existing and future real estate projects and could lead to a rotation of the same properties from one owner to another, causing a stall in the development of new real estate projects. The effect on the construction sector and other ancillary services would be significant. So too would the impact on jobs for our people. We urge government to take urgent action to repeal this law,” Hobson expressed.
In disagreeing with the CIC’s request, Astaphan painted a very different picture and suggested that the presence of that particular piece of legislation sets the Federation’s CBI programme on par with the others.
“Remember, the Government inherited a Citizenship by Investment programme which had been doing well and which fell on difficult times because the Government had lost its way. Cracks had developed in their system because of mismanagement by the Douglas Administration. And in the meantime you have other jurisdictions which have come into the game. They all have the five-year resale component in their product.
“The present Government is trying to restore our programme to its ascendancy. In fact, right now I think the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General are in Singapore in pursuance of that at a conference. If at this time the Government removes the five-year resale component, it would make the product even less competitive right now. I am not saying it is not something that may be considered somewhere in the future, but right now it could be a problem,” Astaphan opined.
He however elucidated that he understands the Chamber’s point of view but reiterated that he could not and does not support it at this time.
“I understand what the Chamber is saying because, as it stands, if you build a facility with 100 units and you sell 100 units, people buy them and get citizenship. They can sell those 100 units in five years’ time. So it doesn’t encourage continuous building, so I understand that argument. I don’t know if we want continuous building anyway.
“But it is right now a tricky type of thing given the circumstances of our citizenship programme and it is not a proposition that I would support presently. That is the proposition put forward by the Chamber. I wouldn’t support it at this time. I don’t think the timing is right!”
