Vanuatu CBI scheme has come to a lot of attention after Vanuatu deported six chinese nationals last week, of which four are CBI citizens who acquired citizenship through DSP/VCP program, at the request of Chinese authorities, without offering them any legal option
The six chinese who were deported were operating an internet scam, Daily post reported last week. Under a veil of secrecy, China has convinced Vanuatu to enforce Chinese law within its own borders, said the newspaper Dailypost
The Internal Affairs Minister Andrew Napuat told the Daily Post that because the six detainees were not charged with any crime in Vanuatu, they would not be fronting up to a Vanuatu court.
Four of those who were deported, had successfully applied for citizenship under the Development Support Programme (DSP). Vanuatu has revoked passports of four chinese nationals who obtained citizenship under CBI scheme.
One of the accused wanted by Interpol had obtained citizenship in 2012. Vanuatu could not see the wanted person because Vanuatu only joined INTERPOL in Nov 2018
The Due diligence process is currently being questioned by due to this incident. Currently Vanuatu does not employ any third party due diligence firms unlike other CBI countries, while other CBI jurisdictions take over a month for DD checks, Vanuatu Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) completes the checks within 48 hours.
Responding to the incident, the Financial intelligence unit (FIU) said
Under the Citizenship Regulation Order No.33 of 2019, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is required to assist the Citizenship Screening Committee with final due diligence checks on potential applicants.
Prior to this, Development Support Program (DSP)/VCP Agents conduct the frontline due diligence by understanding the background of the applicants and the source of funds. This includes reviewing police clearance for any past criminal convictions.
DSP/VCP Agent-approved applications including valid passport, police or judicial clearance, Curriculum Vitae (VC) and any such requested documents are then submitted to the FIU where the due diligence process must be completed within 48 hours and a written finding to the Citizenship Screening Committee.
“Although the Citizenship Regulation only requires FIU to check for criminal conviction, FIU utilises several globally reputable screening servers in its due diligence process where these servers not only access the INTERPOL database or past criminal conviction records but also global blacklisting, sanctions, financial disqualification, corporate solvency, terrorism, individual bankruptcy and political-affluent persons,” the FIU Director said.
“To ensure that our Citizenship Program remains globally competitive, great reliance is placed on the screening serves however; FIU understand that the servers may not be foolproof. In mitigating this factor, FIU has employed an effective ongoing monitoring of all successful applicants in the Program.
“This includes annual internal re-screening of citizens and promptly sharing its findings with the Citizenship Commission, Vanuatu Immigration Services and other relevant authorities.
“In response to the Chinese nationals, FIU received their applications with supporting documents in late February 2019. Our due diligence process concluded with no adverse record found against their respective names.
“However, in June 2019, the Chinese Law Enforcement Agency informed Vanuatu Authorities of their criminal investigation into the six Chinese nationals that commenced in March 2019.
“As such, our due diligence process conducted in February 2019 could not identify the criminal investigation as the investigation only commenced in March 2019 or the investigation was, at that time, covert.”
FIU then responded to the request and promptly notified the VCP.
