By: Spokesman Newsroom
BASSETERRE, St.Kitts– After being contacted by lawyers representing Dr. Denzil L. Douglas, Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris reportedly claimed that the he was misquoted in media reports as it pertains to the allegations about Dr. Douglas holding dual citizenship of both St.Kitts-Nevis and Dominica.
That information was revealed by Dr. Douglas, the immediate former Prime Minister and Opposition Leader of the St.Kitts-Nevis Labour Party, while addressing local reporters gathered at a Party- press conference held on Wednesday 1st November at the conference room of the Koi Resort building located at Airport Road.
“Of course I did say that the matter was going to be referred to my lawyers and it was because Dr. Harris was purported to have said, at the time, that I had dual citizenship. When he was further questioned and when the lawyers got down to looking at the matter in depth, he was saying he didn’t say that I had dual citizenship; (but that) he said I had a (diplomatic) passport from Dominica; and that he believed I had dual citizenship.”
Dr. Douglas’ comments on this matter came during the question and answer segment of the live broadcast session.
Dr. Harris, in his opening remarks at press conference held on Tuesday 3rd October at Government Headquarters, listed three areas questioning Dr. Douglas’ loyalty to the Federation of St.Kitts and Nevis.
The allegations made were as follows:
- Douglas is a citizen of another country other than St.Kitts and Nevis.
- Douglas promotes the CIP [Citizenship by Investment Programme] of another country and undermines that of St.Kitts and Nevis.
- Douglas strangely holds a diplomatic passport of another country.
At another press conference held on Wednesday 25th October, Dr. Harris raised the issue again during his opening statements, specifically making allegations concerning Dominica.
When asked by a reporter whether Dr. Douglas has dual citizenship along with the alleged diplomatic passport, PM Harris stated: “The issue of how many citizenship Dr. Douglas may or may not have, that is a matter you have to put to him and let him answer. He should answer those questions concerning him as brought in the public interest information that has come from a very reliable source to us with respect to that.”
He also said that: “This is a matter of constitutional significance. It is a matter of political significance.”
Dr. Douglas used the opportunity at this week’s press conference to further point out that he does not hold and never applied for citizenship of Dominica whilst expressing that he holds an oath of allegiance to the Federation of St.Kitts and Nevis only.
After Dr. Harris’ early October press conference, the next day(4th October), Dr. Douglas gave him 48 hours to apologise and indicated that he would have spoken to his lawyers about filing a lawsuit for defamation if the request was not granted.
When asked if he still wants an apology from Dr. Harris, he replied: “Not really because what he is saying is that the press misquoted him. He is saying that he said he believed that I had Dominican citizenship not that I had it and recently as you can see from his posturing, he is no longer saying I had dual citizenship, he is saying that I have a diplomatic passport,” he responded.
According to Dr. Douglas: “I cannot sue him if my lawyers are saying to me that what he is now saying… is that he believes but he didn’t say that I have.”
Dr. Douglas is of the view that PM Harris brought up such allegations in an attempt to distract the public from the scandal surrounding the newly-introduced Hurricane Relief Fund option of the Citizenship By Investment Programme.
“Dr. Harris was using those tactics because it was an attempt to divert our attention from the scandal of the day; that he had attempted to create a slush fund, tried to name it the hurricane Relief Fund slashing by fifty in per cent the investment amount in the financial option of seeking citizenship for St Kitts and Nevis”
He continued: “In the process, he was being severely criticized for undermining the programme in Dominica. He was being severely criticised for attempting to sell 4000 Kittitian passports cheaply at US$ 37, 000 for one, trying to do it in six months.”
The former prime minister pointed to the potential scandalous backlash that could follow in the aftermath of the due diligence check system.
“Just imagine then what would happen with regard to the due diligence checks that would have had to be done. It means that the chances are there would be increased mistakes in the due diligence and once there are increased mistakes with such a low cost of each passport, it was being surmised that we would attract various persons in our programme- money launderers, terrorists of that kind and so in order to distract people’s attention from the reality of the day where he described as a platinum programme was now the cheapest in the world as we were racing to the bottom of industry with regard to the citizenship by investment. That is the scandal that Dr. Douglas brought upon this country and was trying to divert people’s attention with this nonsense about diplomatic passport.”