Passport investment scheme to facilitate Lebanese investors?

A Lebanese group said to have set its eyes on a massive piece of fertile land in the North of the country could benefit largely from the new ‘Transformative Journey’ of Mauritius.

The Prime Minister cum Minister of Finance said in his Budget 2018-2019 speech the Transformative Journey will need some crucial adjustments. 

One of them is the opening up of the economy and country to the rest of the world.

“To this end, the Economic Development Board – EDB – will manage two schemes to attract High Net Worth individuals who satisfy defined criteria and after due diligence.

“The first scheme will offer foreigners the opportunity to obtain Mauritian citizenship provided they make a non-refundable contribution of USD 1 million to a Mauritius Sovereign Fund. For their spouse and dependents, they will have to make an additional contribution of USD 100,000 per member of the family,” he said.

There is also the second scheme.

“The second scheme will offer the opportunity to obtain a Mauritian passport provided they make a contribution of USD 500,000 to the Mauritius Sovereign Fund.

“For their spouse and dependents, they will have to make an additional contribution of USD 50,000 per passport. 109.

“The Mauritius Sovereign Fund will be managed by the Mauritius National Investment Authority. Any withdrawal from the Fund will be used to meet disbursements for new capital projects and public debt repayments.”

The two schemes have sparked a row in the country with citizens claiming their country is now for sale for cheap.

Others are stated that terrorists will now have access to Mauritius and become Mauritian citizens with the cheap purchase of the passport and citizenship.

Nevertheless, a rumour sparked by some sources today in Port Louis wanted the schemes to be within the reach of Saudi Arabian nationals.

Recent concerns of a former Minister’s ties with the Saudi’s and rumours that Saudi Arabia is a supporter of the Daesh (which is fallacious) were also part of the rumours.

However, it is the Lebanese group that is attempting to get its hands on the Saint Antoine property that is being facilitated in the process.

The rumours are out there to confuse the people while the business group lay down its strategy to acquire the local nationality in the guise of their contribution to the so-called ‘Sovereign Fund.’