CEO of CIP Unit reports to Executive on applications denied and income lost because of sanctions on Russian nationals

Antigua and Barbuda will continue to observe the sanctions imposed on Russian citizens, and therefore deny their applications through the Citizenship by Investment Programme (CIP).

Charmaine Quinland, Chief Executive Officer of the Citizenship by Investment Unit, reportedly met with the Cabinet on Wednesday, June 22, to address the issue of Russian nationals’ applying for citizenship.

Since the Russian-Ukraine war, sanctions have been placed not only on the Russian Government, but on citizens who may have close relations with President Vladimir Putin.

This week’s Cabinet Notes claim that Quinland was questioned intensely about the number of applicants and the income this country is foregoing as a result of honouring the sanctions.

This amount, the Notes say, “is clearly significant and represents a permanent loss to the CIP coffers.”

Meanwhile, other countries in the Caribbean with similar CIP programmes have yielded to the sanctions and are also not accepting applications from Russians at this time.

However, the Notes claim that several of these countries have exceeded Antigua and Barbuda’s annual CIP revenue intake.

This claim, reportedly, was disputed by Quinland.

“The CEO was persuaded that the Antiguan and Barbudan Government far more accurately reports the amounts which flowed to the government’s coffers than the reported CIP amounts which flowed into the coffers of other countries” the Notes say.