“We are looking closely at actions that are taken and actions being contemplated by the EU and also by the OECD, so we are monitoring those things,” said Antiguan Ambassador and Citizenship by Investment Board member Colin Murdoch this week, according to the Antigua Observer.
While the country continued to work toward ensuring the Antigua & Barbuda CIP’s momentum, commented Murdoch, government officials were monitoring “threats on the horizon” from international political bodies.
CIP jurisdictions, particularly in the Caribbean but also in Europe and the Pacific, have long been the subject of pressure and attacks from the OECD and the EU), who maintain – despite a plethora of evidence to the contrary – that such programs constitute a “threat to national security” and pose risks relating to money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
The jurisdictions themselves have responded to such allegations by pointing to the tight scrutiny to which applicants are subject, by demonstrating transparency regarding program procedures, and, in many cases, by implementing mitigating measures to address the ostensible concerns of the EU and OECD.
Such steps of accommodation and appeasement have, thus far, made little difference to the OECD/EU position, an outcome predicted on multiple occasions by commentators on IMI (see related articles in the box below).
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