Economic citizenships pending

On Monday, the Ministry of Internal Affairs sent a letter to the outgoing Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić, the Investment Agency of Montenegro, as well as the agencies that have the authority to mediate when applying for and promote the economic citizenship program, that they will not make decisions on requests for admission to Montenegrin citizenship of persons of special importance. for the economic and economic interest of the state until they receive additional opinions from the agent for the evaluation of international suitability, as well as from the Sector for financial and intelligence affairs of the Police Directorate, "Vijesti" learns.

Until receiving additional opinions, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has blocked the further issuance of economic citizenships because the European Parliament, on March 1, 2022, voted for a Resolution demanding stricter sanctions against Russia and expects EU and allied countries to review all users of so-called "golden visas" and to abolish, those attributed to Russian citizens and their families, with huge assets, and especially those "linked to sanctioned individuals and companies in the Russian Federation".

That is why the MUP decided to tighten the verification mechanisms, and to request new opinions and checks of money flows, so that it does not happen that someone from the list of suspicious Russians obtains a Montenegrin passport in the economic citizenship program, which has been extended until the end of 2022.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs asked the Investment Agency and mediation agencies to submit additional proof of receipt of money intended for payment and investment for all those who have already submitted applications for admission to Montenegrin citizenship in this way...

The agency asked for controls

The Investment Agency of Montenegro confirmed to "Vijesta" that they have already acted on the request of the MUP.

"According to the events in Ukraine, the Agency, at the request of the Ministry of Interior, asked the agents for additional control of the applicants," the answer reads.

The Minister of Internal Affairs, Sergej Sekulović, was against the decision of the Government, which at the end of last year decided to extend the special program until the end of 2022, and which was harshly criticized by the European Commission several times because they expressed their concern - asking to review the scheme for the allocation of economic citizenship because they can be a risk for the system of money laundering, tax evasion, financing of terrorism, corruption...

The applicant, who wants to obtain a Montenegrin passport in this way, submits a request to the Agency for Investments through a mediation agent, who is obliged to first forward it to the Prime Minister, and if he agrees, then the Government in the form of a proposal: "I suggest that it a person receives Montenegrin citizenship..." submits the documentation to the MUP, for further assessment of the fulfillment of the conditions.

According to the procedure, citizenship under this program could only be obtained by someone who, during the checks, paid money for the costs of the procedure, submitted a certificate that he had not been sentenced to a prison sentence of more than a year, but also that the agent for the international eligibility assessment submits a positive opinion and proof of origin money... After all those steps, if the Ministry of Interior determines that the conditions for making a decision on admission are met, it informs the Investment Agency, and they then inform the applicant.

On behalf of the Government, the Agency has issued licenses for three companies, which, in addition to mediating when applying for interested parties, are also authorized to promote the program - "APEX CAPITAL PARTNERS" DOO Podgorica, "ARTON GROUP" GmbH Austria and "HENLEY & PARTNERS GOVERNMENT SERVICES" LTD Jersey .

The agency also extended licenses to international eligibility assessment agents specialized in providing evidence of the origin of money intended for investment, as well as for any type of eligibility of interested applicants - "S-RM Intelligence and Risk Consulting" LTD and "EXIGER CANADA" INC, CANADA.

"In the mechanism of control of the applicant's international suitability, the DD agent determines the fulfillment of the criteria that the applicant and persons related to him do not have a criminal record in the country of origin or any other country in which he acquired citizenship or has a residence, that the applicant is not a person on INTERPOL and /or EUROPOL list, as well as that companies in which the applicant is a founder/co-founder or managing body have not been convicted of economic crimes, nor have they been banned from operating in the last five years", they explained the procedure.

They emphasized that DD agents "do not even take into consideration the persons whom the preliminary screening shows to be related to the people on the list of sanctions, and in connection with Russia's aggression against Ukraine."

"The verification procedure continues even after the approval itself, in case the mentioned persons are on one of the mentioned lists during the process and after the approval. Finally, after checking by DD agents, and after sending the application to the Ministry of Interior, our security services do their checks," says the Investment Agency's reply.

2.297 people applied

According to the data of the Investment Agency, since the beginning of the economic citizenship program - in 2019, the MUP has issued 126 decisions on admission to Montenegrin citizenship through investment, while a total of 704 applicants have been registered so far, but since among them are their family members, the total number of persons is 2.297 persons. From January 1 to February 15, the government granted 28 economic citizenships to Russian citizens, and in the first 15 days of February alone, 17 requests for Montenegrin citizenship were submitted to the MUP based on Article 12 of the Law on Montenegrin Citizenship.

Russians call agents

Due to Russia's aggression against Ukraine, more and more rich Russian citizens, especially those in serious companies there, who are worried about the development of the situation, are interested in agencies, which have the authority to mediate, but also agents, how to obtain economic citizenship of Montenegro.

Insiders claim that these are mostly Russians, who work in large Russian companies, whose jobs and capital are in serious trouble, if the president there, Vladimir Putin, continues his aggression in Ukraine.

27 million was paid into the state coffers for processing costs

The Investment Agency explains that the economic citizenship program was aimed at "intensification of development projects, especially in the north".

"In the part of the financial structure, the income generated from paid processing costs amounts to EUR 27.770.000,00, the total amount paid to the Agency's special account for the purpose of donation for less developed areas is EUR 12.600.000,00 (EUR 23.800.000,01 deposited in the ESCROW account for applications, which are in the procedure), while for the purpose of investments, a total of 33.900.000,00 euros was paid to the investors (68.300.000,00 deposited in the ESCROW account for the applications in the procedure)", the answer states Investment agencies.