ANTIGUA has reportedly asked the CARICOM Implementing Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) to conduct due diligence on 19 applicants, who have expressed interest in becoming Citizens by Investment. The applicants, two of whom are from Yemen, are said to have dubious backgrounds.The reports of this request came hours after the Executive Director of IMPACS, Francis Forbes, told reporters that the region’s umbrella crime and security agency has formalised the application form for applicants desirous of becoming a Citizen by Investment in the five countries that have opted to be part of the programme: Antigua, St. Kitts, Dominica, St. Lucia and Grenada.

Through the programme, eligible applicants are offered full citizenship in exchange for a significant investment in a designated development fund or Citizenship Programme-approved real estate.

In addition to the standardised form that is now in place, Forbes noted that there is a Review Committee in operation as well. “I will say that since our participation in the process, we have managed to tighten the security that we thought was duly required. The results have been very interesting,” he told reporters on the outskirts of CARICOM’s 28TH Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government at the Guyana Marriott.

IMPACS is the nerve centre of the Region’s new multilateral Crime and Security management architecture, specifically designed to administer a collective response to the Crime and Security priorities of Member States.