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Chastanet Seeks Court Order to Block Galaxy CIP Applications in Saint Lucia · IMI Podcasts

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Former St.
• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Lucia Prime Minister and opposition leader Alan Chastenet filed an urgent interlocutory injunction on February 20th to halt parts of the country's Citizenship by Investment Program, also known as CIP, alleging systematic violations under current investment minister Ernest Hilaire's leadership.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Court documents regarding Chastenay's application, SLUHCV 2025 of 0072, name Ernest Hilaire in his capacity as minister responsible for CIP as the first defendant and the Citizenship by Investment Board as the second.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: This marks the second legal challenge involving St.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Lucia's CIP leadership in less than a year, following MSR Media's RICO lawsuit in May 2024 that named several Caribbean CBI officials, including Hilaire, as defendants.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: MSR later withdrew the case in December 2024, citing immunity claims.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: The case challenges three main aspects of the program: the administration of approved real estate projects, the implementation of a new infrastructure option, and the approval of specific enterprise projects without any proper regulatory framework.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: At the center of the challenge lies an agreement between the CIP Board and Caribbean Galaxy Real Estate Limited, which Chastenay claims authorizes a minimum of 200 successful applications per month, with a cap of 5,000 successful applications over 24 months, a substantial increase from the 700 applications the government originally approved for Galaxy's Canels Resort project.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: The government has not disclosed the exact number of shares currently allocated to Galaxy.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: However, the developer had initially requested$9,160 shares at$300,000.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: In 2021, Galaxy had requested to revise their share allocation, citing an expanded project scope and rising construction costs post-COVID-19.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Chastenay's administration had notably approved Galaxy as a CIP developer and created regulations allowing the company to establish escrow accounts abroad.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: While Hilaire termed this arrangement a wild west, Chastonet maintains his government maintained complete access to the account's financial records.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: For the court to grant the injunction, Chastenay must prove the CIP approvals were ultra-vires and violated existing legal frameworks, including the Citizenship by Investment Act and public procurement laws.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: His filing argues these violations resulted in substantial financial losses through the alleged sale of citizenships for$65,000, significantly below the legally mandated minimum of$200,000.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: The application seeks two primary orders, to restrain Minister Hilaire from approving citizenship applications for Galaxy's real estate projects and the purported enterprise projects, and to prevent the CIP board from processing such applications pending trial.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: A program freeze could materialize through three channels: the court's injunction, parliamentary action, or a CIP unit administrative decision, parliamentary intervention would require drafting new legislation, while the CIP unit could suspend approvals based on compliance concerns.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Chastenay's filing specifically targets the approval of Galaxy's National Infrastructure Program and BMAX LLC's Rock Hall Housing Development Project.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: If Chastenay's claims regarding Galaxy's share allocations are true, and considering St.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Lucia continues to tackle a backlog that has stretched average processing times to over 14 months, this injunction could potentially affect around 5,000 applications.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: He argues these approvals, which the government had granted retroactively from January 12, 2024, were ultra vires, and the government had implemented them without proper regulatory framework or guidelines required under Section 71F of the Citizenship by Investment Act, 2015.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: The court must evaluate whether these authorizations exceeded ministerial authority and bypassed procurement requirements under the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act and the Finance Administration Act.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: Jastinette argues that any contracts the government awarded without requisite approvals were void, unenforceable, and therefore invalid.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: His filing does not mention revoking citizenships obtained through these contested programs, nor does he request voiding citizenships.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: The complex legal and constitutional considerations such actions would entail are beyond the scope of his injunction request.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: This episode first appeared as an article by Ahmad Abbas on imidally.com.
• 4:47
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