ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, February 26, 2019 (CMC) – Grenada has warned that it would not allow persons to use its passport to escape justice.
“We have extradition treaties with lots of countries, we have an extradition treaty with Russia, and if Russia requests you for anything illegal, we will send you back, we will hand you over,” International Business Minister, Nikolas Steele, said.
Grenada is among several Caribbean countries that provide citizenship to foreign nationals under the Citizenship by Investment programme (CBI), in exchange for making a significant contribution to the socio-economic development of the country.
Steele said that anyone, who attempts to use Grenada’s citizenship to escape a criminal trial or engage in criminal activity, will lose such a privilege, once the relevant authority draws it to the attention of Grenada.
He told the “Next Step International Conference”, here, that the CBI should not be regarded as an opportunity for anyone to be shielded from wrongdoings.
Steele said Grenada would also revoke the citizenship and passport, from anyone who is extradited, adding that there have been persons, whose passports were revoked, after receiving Grenadian citizenship under the initiative.
He did not provide details on those persons, nor the number of persons whose citizenship has been evoked in the past.
The conference is the second “Next Step International Conference,” organised for Russian investors, with the organisers saying the objective is to strengthen and deepen the relationship with Grenada and other Caribbean islands.
The conference was also attended by participants from St. Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda and St. Kitts and Nevis, and organised by the St. George’s Club of Russia, the Grenada government and Instituto Bering-Bellingshausen para las Americas.
“The Next Step event is a convenient setting, which facilitates open discussion and candid exchange of opinions on major topics, regarding the regional and global economy,” said Sergey Brilev, President of Instituto Bering-Bellingshausen para las Americas.
