Independent Due Diligence Unit to be established for Dominica CBI: PM Skerrit

With a vision to enhance transparency and maintain high standards of Citizenship by Investment Programme, the Prime Minister of Dominica, Dr Roosevelt Skerrit, has announced the establishment of an Independent Due Diligence Unit in October 2024.

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) will oversee the operations of the unit. The unit will be responsible for reviewing all the applicant files, and advising on which applicant will be successful or not based on the due diligence reports.

The Prime Minister asserted that all the people working in the due diligence unit have been vetted by the RSS regional security system in order to maintain the high standards of the Citizenship by Investment Programme.

Moreover, PM Roosevelt Skerrit stated that the establishment of an independent regulatory body is one of the key aspects of the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signed by them in March 2024.

This MoA was signed between Dominica, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, St Kitts and Nevis and Saint Lucia in order to ensure a minimum threshold limit for the investment related to the various CBI Programmes in different Caribbean regions. This also covered the aspects of strict scrutiny for applicants that shall be regularized by the five of the signing Caribbean countries.

“One of the important aspects of this MOA is, the setting up of the establishment of an independent regulatory body that would regulate and oversee the operations of all of the CBI programs in the region,” mentioned Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit.

PM Skerrit stated the signing of the MoA speaks to a number of issues where they all can do things jointly. He stated that it is something that Dominica had been proposing for many years, and he is happy that finally they were able to get the concurrence of the other governments to sign on to the MOA.

The Prime Minister also shed light on working with an international community in order to address new and emerging challenges that have been arising from time to time. He stated that they have been working closely with the United States government through the Treasury Department, who came and provided them with the six points that they were able to implement and continue to work with them.

PM Roosevelt Skerrit further added that they run a robust and transparent CBI programme which has helped the country on several occasions. He mentioned that this programme has helped the nation in times of natural disasters and also in terms of ordinary times, which shed light on the power it holds.

The Prime Minister stated since the time he has taken over the tenure, his administration has taken several deliberate decisions that the CBI funds will never be used for recurrent expenditure because the administration never wanted to rely on it as their source of recurrent expenditure.

He added that therefore, they decided to utilize these funds for, infrastructure, government investment and also to pay down the national debt.

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit noted that the only times they used the CBI funds were after the hurricane and during COVID-19, when they had to pay the salaries of all public officers.

He asserted that the government has always been committed to support many private sector entities in paying the salaries of officers of public or private sector workers. “We want to ensure that in difficult times, the dignity of the human being is assured and maintained, that people can take home pay and pay their mortgages and take care of their families.”

The Prime Minister asserted that they have always ensured to maintain the transparency and accountability of the CBI Programme and use its funds only for the betterment and enhancement of the citizens of the country.