Grenada’s New China Extradition Bill Aims to Strengthen CIP

 

Grenada, the country with the only citizenship by investment program in the world that offers visa-free access to China, passed in Parliament on Friday, an Extradition Treaty Bill that would make it easier for the island nation to extradite criminals (including CBI passport holders) to China, writes Grenadian-based The New Today. China is expected to pass the Extradition Bill into law as well.

Grenada’s Prime Minister and Minister of National Security, Dr. Keith Mitchell, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Peter David, have both given their strong support to the bill.

“…Everyone should know clearly that if they commit a crime in most countries that we have a relationship with […]that Grenada would not be the best place to come – find another hiding place. We would not be the right place to come, it wouldn’t be smart at all […] historically we have been a country that has taken this position,” said the Prime Minister.

“[…]Grenada is known to be very firm where these issues are concerned […] do not underestimate Grenada’s strong position on issues of criminal nature and extradition of persons committing crimes and getting to here,” PM Mitchell added.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Peter David stressed that the bill would compliment Grenada’s CBI scheme.

“These issues arise sometimes with our CBI programme […] This legislation here is an indication that we are prepared to do everything to ensure that persons who come into Grenada, persons who transact business in Grenada, persons who become citizens of Grenada possibly under the CBI programme, if it is found that they have done something that is against the law of another country, in this case, China, we are prepared to deal with it,” he said.

According to Minister David, the signing into law of the Extradition Treaty will send “a strong signal” that Grenada under the watch of PM Mitchell “will do everything to ensure that the scourge of corruption” does not get a foothold on the island.

He said the island’s government is bent on ensuring that “persons who come into our shores, persons who acquire citizenship, persons who do business in Grenada will not leave from where they have committed their crimes to come to us.”

“… We would do everything to ensure that as we develop, as we attract tons of investment, we want clean, proper investors to this country so that we can develop Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique,” he added.

Grenada’s move demonstrates the country’s commitment to maintaining good relations with China, a country with which Grenada has a unique visa-free travel arrangement, a privilege not afforded to any other CIP-countries.

Chinese applicants are, by a wide margin, the Grenada CIP’s largest investor constituency. In an interview with Investment Migration Insider back in February 2018, Kasha Ince, Chairman of the Citizenship by Investment Committee in Grenada, revealed that 98% of applications received so far were from China.

Image credit: Андрей Бобровский [CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons