The government's economic citizenship program has been stalling for more than 10 months because several embassies of European countries oppose the executive power's intention to issue Montenegrin passports to foreigners, because they do not want various suspicious persons to get Montenegrin passports and thus enable them to easily enter the country. EU. This information was unofficially confirmed by the "News" from diplomatic sources.
"Vijesti" asked the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, which manages the development of the program, for an answer to the question of whether the entire work was stopped because of the attitude of foreign diplomats, but the question was not answered. The questions whether the Commission has started the process of creating a proposal for an economic citizenship program that should be submitted to the Government for consideration and when it will be completed, as well as if the creation of the program has not started, why the delay, were not answered.
It was unofficially explained from that government department that they have nothing to say in relation to the latest information they communicated. The last information, when the second public call was concluded in July of last year, was that the competent Commission will review the submitted models in the following period and create a program proposal that will be submitted to the Government for consideration and adoption.
The Ministry twice issued a public call for the development of an economic citizenship program. The first was at the end of 2016 and it was canceled in February of last year because, as explained by that department, the companies that submitted offers did not meet the requirements. The first public call for bids was submitted by a consortium consisting of the British companies Henley and partners Government Services and Fragomen LLP, as well as the Chinese Shanghai Overseas Chinese Exit-Entry Services. The second applicant was the Canadian-American consortium Arton-Ipsa.
The second public invitation was announced on June 7 last year and seven offers were received for that job. It was never officially announced who submitted the bids, but "Vijesti" got the names from unofficial sources from the Government. They are the consortium of the British company Henley and partners Government Services and Fragomen LLP, the Canadian Arton capital, the Canadian APX, Shangha and oversize and the Cypriot ATS.
In the second public invitation, it is defined that the bidder submits a written statement that the Montenegrin Government can use the proposed concept integrally or part of it, without special consent and without payment of compensation. This is a fundamental difference compared to the first call, which defined the entire job as being awarded to a company that would do it. In the first invitation, it was clearly defined what the program should contain, then that the Government will make a decision on the selection of the bidder and authorize the commission to start negotiations with the selected bidder. It was foreseen that the contract with the selected bidder would be signed for 36 months, its revision every 12 months and the possibility of extension for a maximum of 36 months under the conditions defined in the contract.
Suspects - Dahlan and Šinavatra - also received passports
At the end of July 2016, the government adopted a decision on the procedure for selecting bidders for the development and implementation of a special economic citizenship program and decided to start that work. In recent years, upon the proposals of the Government and the President, Montenegrin passports have been distributed, even to those suspected of criminal offenses in their own countries.
Among the "famous Montenegrins" are the former Palestinian minister Muhamed Dahlan, whom the Palestinian authorities suspect of embezzling hundreds of millions from state funds, as well as the former Prime Minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was convicted of corruption in that country.
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