Allocation of Seychelles citizenship should be more transparent

ECP and EDA bad pieces of legislation

Recent sales of prime land to foreigners who have obtained Seychelles citizenships have focused public attention on the manner this is done. When he was still vice-President, Mr. James Michel tried to justify the Economic Citizenship Programme. The scheme allowed Government to prostitute Seychellois citizenship by selling our passports to foreigners who had never even set foot here and had absolutely no knowledge whatsoever of the local culture, tradition or history.

However, rather than shed any light on the controversial scheme, by which passports were usually sold for $ 25,000 apiece and purchased mainly by Chinese and Russians, who thought it could facilitate entry into Europe, his statement was illogical.

Regarding public access to information regarding the citizenship scheme, Mr. Michel claimed Government could not submit details to the Auditor-general as there was no assurance such information would remain confidential.

According to him, under Immigration regulations, the register of applications must remain confidential, even if the names later appear on the voters’ roll prior to elections.

It was however revealed that an inspection of the details of the citizenship programme was conducted by Lord St John of Bletso for the British and Commonwealth Office. It was also claimed that a report on the inspection was addressed to the British High Commissioner.

What it all boiled down to was that St John of Bletso was privy to documents  that neither the National Assembly, nor the Auditor -General had access to.

The mystery can be explained by the fact that Lord St John of Bletso was no other than chairman of OCCRA, the largest offshore registration company in Seychelles. A senior executive of the company appeared on SBC television at the time and enthusiastically supported enactment of the Economic Development Act (EDA) which guaranteed immunity from prosecution for wealthy fugitives. The OCCRA executive also defended the citizenship programme, saying that a similar policy was practiced by several countries. Whether St John de Bletso declared his interest in the offshore business is not revealed. If he did, it is unlikely that the British Government would have taken his report seriously.

July 18, 2008
Copyright 2007: Seychelles Weekly, Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles