Dominica still issuing new identities for a price

Roseau, Dominica (TDN) —- In November 2009 reporters for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) in Russia reported on their extensive investigation in that country, which showed that “money and connections are enough to provide not only a passport and a visa, but all the necessary documents for unrestricted travel all over the world. They also can secure a second citizenship and a second passport and even a second passport under a different name.”

Dominica's passport is available for anyone wanting a new identity and willing to pay several thousand dollars.

In their report entitled ‘Russia: A Price for Everything’ the investigators paid particular attention to Dominica’s Economic Citizenship (ECP). They noted the ease of obtaining economic citizenship in Dominica, “the entire time required to get the passport, the second citizenship and a second passport would be two to three months.”

The investigation also revealed a more sinister aspect of the program that of the granting of new identities. The reporters made contact with CCP Inc. which at the time had on its website a letter of recommendation from the Minister of Economic Development, Julius C. Timothy.

“In Russian, the webpage of CCP Inc., registered in Dominica (www.goccp.com), reads, in part: “You definitely need a second citizenship and second passport if your present nationality causes you one of the following problems: …makes you a target for terrorists, allows your present government to control, limit and register your traveling, …forces you and your children to serve in the army …your state is politically unstable, you want to insure your family against unforeseeable misfortunes.”

CCP Inc boasted that it were possible to change names in Dominica to get a second passport in another name. A spokesman for the company indicated that, “although the government does not like anyone changing names in less than 6 months to a year after getting a second citizenship, it is not regulated in the law. So his company could help in that respect and could even suggest a local lawyer who could help—for $2,000.”

The reporting of the OCCRP confirms a rather dangerous trend highlighted by several anecdotal reports out of Dominica suggesting that foreign nationals have been able to secure new identities in as little as three days.

Several taxi operators speak of transporting foreign nationals from the airport under one name and on the return trip to the airport these same individuals boast of having secured new names. In some instances they are able to get drivers licenses in Dominica.

Of particular interest are the large numbers of Iranian nationals who have succeeded in getting new identities. Some of those identities were acquired illegally as was the case between 2005 and 2011 when Iranian nationals Azra Abdul Sarter Ambarky and Mohamed Koza Magia were able to bribe local government officials in securing forged birth certificates.

These certificates were then used in obtaining Dominica passports. When government arrested three of the lower level personnel involved in the scam in May 2011 they pledged to make further arrests. However, more than eight months later, no new arrests have been made and the individuals who were arrested have not reappeared in court and are out on bond.

Police also reported at the time that they were able to identify 40 passports that were obtained fraudulently.

In their conversations with CCP Inc, the OCCRP reported that they had assisted several Russian nationals in obtaining new passports and nationalities. According to the OCCRP, Russian businessmen with controversial connections, those who managed to make politics a second career, … and suspected criminal leaders and those willing to break the law “ were those “most likely” to purchase new identities from Dominica.

Russian migration officials have reportedly said that the issue of second citizenships are of global concern and there are efforts underway in Western European capitals to figure out how to regulate it.

However, despite growing public outrage and calls to end Dominica’s program, the government is showing no signs of suspending the program with protestations of its transparency and economic contribution to Dominica’s development.