The Government of Vanuatu has announced to tighten security checks on the applicants investing under the citizen by investment program, after allegations of lax security checks and partial visa waiver suspension threat by European commission.
In a press release today, the government of vanuatu announced a number of stringent security checks under a multi-layered approach involving several entities, including authorised agents, CBI Units, an independent due diligence firm, law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and partner governments.
Vanuatu’s due diligence processes will be further enhanced to ensure that only reputable investors can obtain citizenship. Therefore, each investor application will undergo a comprehensive and careful audit to mitigate any security, financial crime, and reputational risks. No resources will be spared in the due diligence exercise to ensure the protection and security of both Vanuatu and the international community.
The Government shall retroactively run full due diligence checks on all CBI applicants granted citizenship in the last six years to ensure that only reputable applicants have been approved. If an economic citizen fails the due diligence check, their citizenship will likely be revoked.
The government has formally finalised the engagement with its first international due diligence service provider, UK agency, FACT UK. The company is the first of several leading global due diligence agencies to be appointed to provide robust due diligence service. FACT UK shall perform extensive checks covering sanctions lists, open-source checks, and on-the-ground assessments. It also leads in IP protection, intelligence, and computer forensics, along with forensic investigation and security verification.
Ronald Warsal, Chairman of Vanuatu’s National Citizenship Commission told Daily Post that discussions surrounding this matter were held yesterday with officials from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Internal Affairs, Finance and Prime Minister’s Office.
The Vanuatu government will appoint a Taskforce to look into the issues identified by the European Commission and address them.
The European Commission has said in a press release that Vanuatu’s investor citizenship schemes allow individuals who would otherwise need a visa to travel to the EU to bypass the regular Schengen visa procedure and the in-depth assessment of individual migratory and security risks it entails. It also said should Vanuatu introduce sufficient measures to this effect, the partial suspension should be lifted.
Until March 2021, it issued over 10 500 passports with an extremely low rejection rate. This raises doubts as to the reliability of the security and due diligence screening carried out by the Vanuatu authorities, said the European commission in the report.
