Special adviser to the prime minister and senior counsel, Anthony Astaphan, said an estimated $226 million generated through the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) program constitutes revenues used by the government for development purposes. Astaphan also disclosed that all monies used for the Economic Diversification Fund (EDF) programs are also part of government incomes.
The senior counsel made this clarification in response to opposition leader Lennox Linton’s accusation that the Skerrit-led government did not carry the citizenry along on how CBI funds are utilized, alleging there must have financial mismanagement somewhere.
But Astaphan made it clear that the government uses the funds to construct houses and hotels and execute other national projects. He maintained that funds generated from sales of Dominican passports must be used for developmental purposes and that monies realized from the EDF program are deposited into government coffers.
According to Astaphan, fees paid on passports constitute government revenues; and investments made into the EDF program form part of government incomes totaling about $226 million among other things.
“So the government has accounted for all the money it has lawfully received,” Astaphan pointed out. “These investment funds that go into the escrow account are not part of the funds of the government; they do not belong to the government. And regulations by law require these funds to be held in an Escrow account to be paid to the developer on the successful grant of citizenship.”
He said it is malicious for Linton to claim that the government embezzles or misappropriates public revenues, adding that funds in escrow are used to carry out various construction projects currently ongoing around the country.
“If a billion dollars is missing from the previous financial year,” Astaphan queried, “how were these houses and these hotels built?”
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