User Rating: 5 / 5
When the Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica revoked the diplomatic passport of fugitive Iran sanctions violator, Alireza Monfared, you did not hear that it had revoked his CBI passport. Do you wonder why ? Even if Dominica eventually cancels Monfared's CBI passport, he remains a citizen of that nation, by virtue of a Certificate of Naturalization. This is the 800 pound elephant in the room, in the CBI program. Once you let the genie out of the box, it cannot be
This is one of those details that Dominica conveniently forgot to consider; when selling their national patrimony. If a CBI-enabled citizen of Dominica is later found to be a criminal, he or she cannot lose their citizenship. Remember, it is an "economic citizenship" program, NOT a passport sales scheme. Unless the applicant is guilty of fraud or concealment, in his original CBI application, Dominica has no power to denaturalize him.
This means that the baker's dozen of known criminals, many of them since arrested, and in law enforcement custody, are still Dominicans, regarding their nationality, because their citizenship remains intact, no mater how heinous their post-CBI sins and transgressions were.
Obviously, the attorneys advising the Government of Dominica, when the CBI program was initiated, and when they permitted dodgy foreign individuals, who were receiving diplomatic passports, to also obtain CBI passports, were professionally negligent.
CBI attorney Anthony Astaphan; does he have malpractice insurance ?
The consequences of awarding Dominican CBI citizenship should have been fully disclosed to the officials operating the program, as well as the Prime Minister, and the Dominica House of Assembly, who paid the attorneys' fees. Whether the actions of CBI attorney Anthony Astaphan, and his associates, constitute malpractice, is a matter for the courts, and/or his malpractice insurance carrier, and are outside the scope of this article, but should be investigated by an independent body or agency, from outside Dominica. Someone surely needs to pay for this negligence.
Chronicles of Monte Friesner - Financial Crime Analyst
Contributed by Kenneth Rijock - Financial Crime Consultant
