Board Responds To Criticisms.
The Citizenship by Investment Board (CIB) has said that Henley and Partners which has raised questions about the transparency aspects of the Saint Lucia programme, had sought to become its sole marketing agents.
A statement in the name of the Board—it was not distributed to THE VOICE– has appeared in other news outlets in response to an article published in THE VOICE last weekend, quoting extensively from an interview which was given by Henley and Partners’ Managing Partner Juerg Steffen about Saint Lucia’s Citizenship by Investment Programme (CIP) and which appeared on the company’s website.
The CIB statement, which responded to the points raised in Steffen’s interview, said: “The Board respects anyone’s right to critique CIP Saint Lucia and in fact welcomes such critiques as they give us a chance to re-examine our programme and continue to improve. However, where necessary the Board will correct misconceptions and inaccuracies about CIP Saint Lucia.
“The issue of requiring a minimum net worth US$3million has been a topic of much debate and we have received both positive and negative feedback to having this requirement. Having a minimum net worth requirement is one of the ways in which CIP Saint Lucia distinguishes itself. Given the programme is limited to 500 approvals annually, it ensures that it is indeed high net worth individuals who apply.
“So far there has been tremendous interest in our real estate projects precisely because our tourism product is up market. The US$300,000 price point is a minimum requirement and does not determine the market price set by the developers. Furthermore, our programme is targeted to the development of our tourism product rather that the sale of residential properties which further accounts for the price differential. We wish to clarify that CIP Saint Lucia does not award citizenship for the purchase of shares in the development company. It is expected that announcements of the CIP Approved Projects will be made shortly.
“Whereas Henley & Partners has expressed the opinion that the Government Bonds option is a bad one, this criticism is based on a misunderstanding of this investment option. Annually, the Government of Saint Lucia raises funds by the issuing of bonds. Often these issues are not fully subscribed and therefore there are shortfalls in the funding estimates. The Government of Saint Lucia has made USD $20,000,000 worth of bonds available for sale through the CIP. These five year bonds are non-interest bearing. Therefore the bonds sold under CIP Saint Lucia will significantly reduce the cost of borrowing while making the bonds more attractive.
“Of particular concern is Steffen’s claim that “there has been no transparency or open tender process” for engaging marketing agencies. A selective tendering process was used where three recognized marketing agents were invited to make presentations to the the Board.