Last Updated on February 24, 2025, 1:14 AM AST by Anthony Morris
Saint Lucia’s former prime minister and current Opposition leader Allen Chastanet last week filed an urgent interlocutory injunction against the country’s Investment Minister Ernest Hilaire and the board of the Citizenship Investment Programme (CIP) to stop processing applications for citizenships over allegedly unlawful practices.
The legal step was in connection to a couple of controversial development projects until a comprehensive judicial review happened.
The court documents, which were filed on February 20, 2025, named Hilaire as the first and the CIP board as the second defendant in the case, respectively. Chastanet urged the court to come up with an injunction that would bar further approval or processing of citizenship applications in connection to investments in the Caribbean Galaxy Real Estate Limited’s (Galaxy) real estate project and the Bemax LLC Rock Hall Housing Development Project.
Chastanet served as the PM between 2016 and 2021 and leads the United Workers Party.
Injunction would be effective till court’s judicial review
According to reports, the injunction would be effective till the court undertakes a judicial review. Chastanet has challenged various aspects of the CIP, especially the approval of the two projects despite charges of violations of requirements of legal investment. Chastanet alleged that investments linked to either project did not fulfil the legal criteria, including full payment of the required investment money.
The opposition leader also said that the government allowed applications under the CIP at discounted rates as low as US$ 65,000 – much lower than the legally mandated minimum of US$200,000 for developing real-estate investments under the programme which is often considered a game-changer in the Caribbean and many other parts of the world.
Chastanet said the alleged violations undermine the programme’s integrity and deprived the country of earning revenues.
Hilaire lacks legal authority: Chastanet
He also contended that Hilaire, who is also St. Lucia’s deputy prime minister and the minister for tourism besides other portfolios, lacked the legal authority to approve such projects with retrospective effect. The opposition leader also said that proper legal and procurement procedures were not followed, including the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act and the Finance (Administration) Act, which affected the legitimacy.
Chastanet’s application for a judicial review cites a lack of proper regulations and guidelines for investments under the CIP’s “Infrastructure Option”, which according to him, led to an arbitrary and unlawful procedure.
It was Chastanet’s administration which had approved Galaxy as a CIP developer and set up regulations allowing it to set up escrow accounts overseas. While Hilaire called the arrangement a “Wild West”, the former prime minister claimed his government had complete access to the account’s financial records.
The latest incident marks the second legal challenge that involves St. Lucia’s CIP leadership in a year. In 2024, the MSR Media’s RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act lawsuit named many Caribbean Citizenship by Investment programme officials, including Hilaire, as defendants.
In June last year, Chastanet even penned a letter to Prime Minister Philip Pierre seeking action or else his party would have no other option but to move the court. He even urged the PM to remove Hilaire from the cabinet while investigation was underway.
MSR withdrew the case in December 2024, citing immunity claims.
In addition to that, agents within the Citizenship by Investment Industry displayed their frustration over the operations of Saint Lucia CIP and Caribbean Galaxy. One of the company named SCH Global, a Singapore based company also criticized Saint Lucia CIP’s complicated application processing.
One of their representatives explained the entire situation and added that they are shifting their attention and businesses in St Kitts and Nevis due to the fraudulent and complex operations of Saint Lucia CIP.
He added that there are great issues of integrity with Saint Lucia CIP and they are seeking more streamlined and quickest route to citizenship. They are preferring Sustainable Island State Contribution (SISC) as it is beneficial for them and the applicants as well.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
