You may have seen the news that a Nigerian and his wife have been operating a giant Ponzi scheme. It's reported that last week they absconded, leaving Nigeria for the UK with some USD54 million of investor's funds.
What has really got some journalists frothing at the fingertips though is that it's reported that in May they had obtained second citizenships in Antigua for themselves and their children.
Instantly the reporters assumed that the couple will flee to Antigua, and hopped on their usual anti-second-citizenship bandwagon.
Meantime, the Prime Minister of Antigua & Barbuda has come out promising that although he has not verified the claims, nevertheless the couple will be apprehended if they try to set foot on the islands.
He said "Antigua and Barbuda is not going to be a refuge for scamps," repeating similar statements he's made in the past that the country's citizenship programme's purpose is to attract and incentivise legitimate investment, not to create a "safe haven for crooks."
There is nothing to suggest that the programme had any gaps in its integrity or that they knew anything about the couple's nefarious plans - back in May the pair had a good reputation and as far as anyone knew were running a legitimate and successful business.
The PM assured the Antiguan Parliament that if the couple landed and it was shown they had a case to answer, they would be "repatriated whence they came."
In other words, like other countries with Citizenship By Investment programmes they jealously guard their own reputations for legitimacy.
Let me tell you that Vanuatu is the same.
There have been a scattered few cases over the years where "real" criminals have tried to use Vanuatu as a safe haven. With or without extradition treaties, once it was shown the malfeasant was indeed a crook, they have had their citizenship stripped from them and been returned to face the music in their home country.
However, as far as I know there has not been ONE case where a non-crook falsely accused has been extradited.
I and my small team are proud of our 100% success rate in getting our applicants approved for Vanuatu Citizenship.
One of the reasons for our success is that we have a very strong internal vetting and "red flag" 🚩️ process of our own, so once the applicant passes this, it's unlikely that the FIU (Financial Intelligence Unit) of Vanuatu will knock them back.
Another reason for our success is that we know the type of person the Citizenship Committee is looking for, so we coach our applicants in how to present their application for maximum chance of acceptance.
We hope that our "no refunds" policy for the initial USD10k transfer will scare away non-legitimate applicants too. 😉️
Yes, the Vanuatu government can be quite flexible, but they are nevertheless careful to keep everything above board.
So, bottom line: don't apply if you are a crook.
If you think you probably pass muster as a legitimate applicant, book a consultation: https∶//in.vu/cal
Lance in (straight-up legitimate) Vanuatu
