Caribbean Times 94th Issue

Thursday 9th February 2017 c a r i b b e a n t i m e s . a g 5
Ministry of Legal Affairs evacuated after fire scare
By Joanna Paris
The Ministry of Legal Affairs was
evacuated on Wednesday following a
fire scare.
Sources within the Ministry told
Caribbean Times that on employees
saw smoke emerging from one of the
bathrooms in the building and fire officials
were called to the scene.
Communications Officer within the
Ministry Laurisa Francis confirmed
that the incident resulted in “an abrupt
halt to the normal flow of operations at
the Ministry”.
“An employee reported that she saw
smoke coming from one of the male
bathrooms, somewhere around the vent
area and then we called the fire personnel
who were able to douse the fire with
By Everton Barnes
The new policy regarding
future issuance of Diplomatic
Passports has been
widely commended.
Government spokesman
Lionel Max Hurst said
at its weekly meeting on
Wednesday, the Cabinet
was informed that the announcement
of new guidelines
by Prime Minister
Gaston Browne on Monday
has been positively received
both at home and abroad.
“We have members of
the public who have communicated
their appreciation
for the move in a variety
of ways. Additionally,
several of our international
partners have also called to
express satisfaction with the
move,” Hurst reported.
He said the next move
is to have the new policy
printed in local newspaper
and to be circulated as widely
as possible.
During the wrap up of
the 2017 budget debate, PM
Browne announced that all
current diplomatic passports
will be re-issued by the end
of March when the new
passports become available.
The new guidelines will
go into effect at that time.
These measures will tighten
up the issuing of diplomatic
passports and plug any loopholes
that currently exist.
Hurst also announced
an extinguisher”, she said.
The employees left the building following
the arrival of the firemen and
will return to their duties today.
New policy guidelines applauded
that the government will
also make public the
6-monthly report produced
by the Citizenship By Investment
Unit detailing the
number of people whose
applications for passports
under the programme were
approved.
19 CIP passports under scrutiny
By Everton Barnes
The Cabinet has ordered the review of
nineteen passports that were granted under
the Citizenship by Investments Programme
to nationals of both Iran and Yemen, two
countries from which applications have
been banned.
According to a source close to the Cabinet,
the applications were processed under
the tenure of the former administration.
“It was brought to the attention of the
Cabinet that applications were processed
for 17 Iranians and 2 Yemenis so the Cabinet
has asked for a new due diligence research
into these individuals to ensure that
there is nothing in that background that
would raise a red flag,” the spokesman reported.
The CIP Unit has been mandated
to conduct the background inquiry into the
individuals and to report the findings to the
Cabinet.
According to the spokesman the Cabinet
sees this request as a proactive measure
to ascertain definitively that there is nothing
about any of the individuals to be concerned.