The Caribbean JRCC blacklisted Globe Detective Agency Private Limited– a due diligence firm based in India from conducting its operations in the Caribbean. The announcement was made by Daniel Smith- JRCC spokesperson, indicating the Centre’s new approach of increasing scrutiny over the firms working with the Citizenship by Investment Unit.
Spokesperson Smith announced that the agency was involved in offering commissions to individuals within the CBI Units to get more applications for vetting. The Centre has raised concerns over the security and ethics within the units. With this step, the agency is prohibited to work as a third-party due diligence agency on any of the five Caribbean CBI jurisdictions.
In order to tackle the integrity issues, the JRCC has been keenly observing the operations of the units and is expected to issue a directive to all the heads of the units across the Caribbean. The directive will ask the leaders to issue a formal letter to their respective due diligence agencies.
Through the letter, the leaders will demand a formal response from the agencies about the integrity of their personnel and demand assurance that no one has been offering commissions to get more contracts.
According to Smith, the Centre will blacklist those agency who will be caught in offering these commissions. While issuing a statement, he noted that the penalties will be implemented for any agency who found guilty of such practices which will including permanent disqualification from operating as a background check agency in any country offering the CBI Programme.
Notably, the name of the agency has still been appearing as a due diligence partner on the site of Saint Lucia CIP even after blacklisted by JRCC. However, official from the Saint Lucian CIP issued the statement on the matter and stated that they are also banned from operating any function within the unit and they don’t forward any application to them currently
The official outlined that they soon would upgrade their website by removing the name of the agency as the partner.
The JRCC announced that they will closely examine the CBI Units to maintain the integrity and enhance the scrutiny of the citizenship applicants. Smith stated that the Centre is monitoring all the processes and working with the units and the heads to enhance robust due diligence practices.
