Wehner Government – By Kisean Joseph[email protected]
Wehner Government Failing Publish
Opposition Senator Jonathan Wehner says the government has failed to publish reports on businesses and projects benefiting from the Citizenship by Investment Programme (CIP), allegedly in violation of the law governing it.
Speaking on Observer AM, Wehner alleged that six-month reports required under the Citizenship by Investment Act, naming businesses, charities and real estate projects that have received CIP funds, have not been published. According to Wehner, the failure means the public has no way of knowing which entities have benefited from the programme, despite the CIP generating significant revenue for the country annually.
“There are businesses, charities, entities, real estate projects, et cetera, that have received millions of dollars from the CIP. Nobody knows who those businesses are. Nobody knows who those entities are,” Wehner said. “They have not been published in the reports, which violates Regulation 13(2)(f) of the Citizenship by Investment Act of 2013. So the minister, Gaston Browne, is in violation of the laws of the land.”
Wehner argued that the reporting requirement exists precisely to safeguard the programme’s credibility, both domestically and with international partners who continue to scrutinise Citizenship by Investment schemes across the region.
Wehner pointed to an international assessment that he says corroborates the transparency concerns, citing the United States’ 2020 Human Rights Report.
“In 2020, Antigua and Barbuda featured in the United States human rights report, not for the right reasons,” Wehner said. “The feature was on our CIP programme. They said there were concerns about the lack of transparency as it relates to our CIP programme.”
He said the report’s findings, from six years ago, indicate that concerns about the programme’s transparency are neither new nor unique to his own observations, and that successive administrations have had ample opportunity to address the reporting gap.
Wehner did not name any specific businesses, charities or entities as confirmed recipients of CIP funds and stressed that his broader remarks on the matter were intended as questions rather than accusations. He said the absence of published reports made it impossible for the public, or for him as a senator, to independently verify how CIP funds have been allocated.
