Ian Patches Liburd Throws Timothy Harris Under the Bus on CBI wrongdoings

When Ian "Patches" Liburd sat down with Philippe Martinez for an episode of The Hemisphere podcast, listeners could have been forgiven for thinking they were hearing from an outsider. Liburd spoke of the decisions that reshaped the country's Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Programme between 2015 and 2022 with the raised eyebrows of a man discovering them for the first time.

He was not discovering them but Liburd was a cabinet minister in Dr Timothy Harris's Team Unity administration and one of his senior advisors on citizenship by investment during the years in question, he indirectly admitted the discrepancies of the government during that period of time. 

The Lanny Davis chapter: 2016

At the centre of Liburd's account is Lanny Davis, the Washington attorney and former counsel to President Bill Clinton. In December 2015, months after Team Unity took office, the Harris government retained Davis to conduct an independent review of the Federation's vetting and background-checking procedures under the CBI Programme, and to help address concerns raised by the US Treasury's FinCEN advisory and the Canadian government.

At the time, due diligence on applicants was the preserve of established Western firms such as Thomson Reuters, Kroll, IPSA International and S-RM, that operated from Washington, London and Ottawa respectively.

A serving member of the Citizenship by Investment Unit, speaking on condition of anonymity, told that when Davis conducted his six-month review of the programme in 2016, vetting was carried out exclusively by American, British and Canadian firms, the international standard for the industry at the time. But, the arrangement did not last. On advise of Ian Patches Liburd, and Les Khan, Lanny Davis's contract lapsed after roughly six months, and it was never renewed. 

2016–2019: New players take over

Les Khan ran the CIU with effectively full authority, with Liburd’s constant advisory. During this period, the Caribbean Galaxy, the Chinese-linked developer behind the controversial "prison project" became the programme's dominant player. And the due diligence work itself, once handled only by Western firms, was opened up to a Chinese provider, named Hongkong Bai Sheng An Limited. Through all of it, Liburd, the adviser on this exact portfolio raised no public alarm.

2019–2022: Philippe Martinez Enters

Philippe Martinez arrived in St. Kitts and Nevis in 2019. His footprint grew fast. He set up film operations in Nevis, producing a run of movies, some starring names like Elizabeth Hurley. He also acquired MSR Hotels Saint Kitts under the programme's investment framework.

The man who opened the door, by multiple accounts, was Les Khan. Martinez himself has said in writing that the hotel purchase was "introduced by Les Khan," and the CIU source describes the two men as close friends. By May 2022, in the final months of the Harris government, Martinez was formally inside the CBI Programme as an approved investment participant, with citizenship shares attached to his ventures. As long as Khan held the keys, the arrangement worked well for Martinez.

During this period, Martinez's time in Nevis was not without controversy. As his film production operations expanded on the island, reports emerged from individuals who alleged they had been promised acting roles or employment opportunities in film productions, only to later accuse Martinez of inappropriate conduct. Local media reported that complaints were filed with the authorities. The controversy cast a shadow over what had initially been promoted as an opportunity to develop a local film industry, leaving many to question the level of oversight exercised by officials responsible for facilitating such ventures.

August 2022: The clean-up

Then the government changed. The St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party won office in August 2022, and the new administration of Dr. Terrance Drew acted almost immediately.

Les Khan was fired as head of the CIU. Caribbean Galaxy's contract was cancelled. The Chinese due diligence firm was removed. A full overhaul of the programme followed: new legislation, a return to independent due diligence firms in Europe, the UK and the US, mandatory interviews for applicants, and a new unit, the Continuing International Due Diligence Unit, based in Europe to keep watch on economic citizens even after their passports are issued.

In plain terms, the new government rebuilt the standard that Lanny Davis had been hired to protect seven years earlier before his contract was cut short.

2024: Martinez fights back and loses

The clean-up left one man badly exposed. The system that had welcomed Martinez, Khan at the CIU, Galaxy on top, citizenship shares to sell was dismantled before he could cash in. The CIU source puts it simply: Galaxy had made its money, but Martinez had not.

Bamboozled by the reversal, Martinez went to court. In May 2024, he and his company MSR Media filed a RICO lawsuit in a US federal court, alleging kickbacks, discounting and fraud in the CBI programmes of St. Kitts and Nevis and Saint Lucia, and naming Khan, Harris, Caribbean Galaxy's Ying Jin and others. His own filings revealed the heart of his complaint: he claimed the right to sell and earn commissions on 500 citizenship shares, but said discounting had made them impossible to sell.

The case collapsed. Martinez withdrew the RICO suit in December 2024, and pulled a related court claim in the Federation's High Court at the last minute in March 2025, just before it was due to be heard. 

The question Liburd cannot escape

Which brings the story back to the podcast and to the strangeness of the picture it presents. On one side of the microphone: a former minister throwing his own prime minister under the bus, acting surprised by decisions made while he sat in cabinet and advised on this very portfolio. On the other side: the producer whose entry into the programme that same era made possible.

Every event Liburd now presents as a revelation,the quiet end of the Davis review, the rise of Les Khan, the arrival of a Chinese firm into the vetting chain, the dominance of Caribbean Galaxy, the admission of Philippe Martinez happened on his watch, and in part, if the CIU insider is right, on his advice.