Pierre Addresses CIP Allegations At New York Diaspora Meeting

On Sunday, Prime Minister Philip J Pierre spoke to Saint Lucians living in New York at a diaspora meeting where he addressed allegations regarding Saint Lucia’s Citizenship By Investment Programme (CIP). The CIP attracted new controversy after Phillip Martinez and his MSR Media filed a Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organisations (RICO) civil lawsuit in US Federal court alleging wrongdoing in the CIP in Saint Kitts and Saint Lucia. “The people who can arrest are governments, no governments have ever called me as the Minister of national security and tell me anything… as it relates to our CIP,” Perre stated, then adding, “… I’m in constant contact with the US Ambassador, the US state department … no government has ever called me and told me anything about any CIP or any of my ministers who are involved in anything.” Pierre told the room of attendees and listeners online that on a visit to Brussels, he only received a request from European officials to strengthen due diligence measures. “They said to me that they want the due diligence strengthened because they have some concerns about migration, that’s a problem all over the world,” Pierre shared. In another instance, Pierre mentioned, “You’ve never heard...