Public Report on the Appointment of Resort Las Vegas Group as Agent for "Immigration Scheme for Vanuatu" and the conduct of Prime Minister ... in assisting the grant of citizenship and issue of ordinary and official passports [1997] VUOM 6

Vanuatu Ombudsman public report of 3 Dec 1997 on the appointment of a private company as exclusive agent for an 'Immigration Scheme for Vanuatu', the grant of citizenship and ordinary and official passports to its owner, and his appointment as Trade Commissioner: legal background (10 years' residence for citizenship, passport laws, invalid Citizenship Commission 19 Feb 1996-22 Sep 1997), chronology (Council of Ministers approval 19 Jun 1997 of a VT 700,000-per-family residence scheme; agent appointed 20 Jun; sub-agent contract 14 Jul contemplating 60,000-80,000 citizenships; agent prices US$15,500 and US$17,000-25,000; projected VT 280 million a year for 4,000 passports; agent's claim of VT 40 billion for 80,000 people), findings and recommendations. Already recorded: the fee, two agent prices, the VT 280 million projection and two events. This pass added 5 numbers (planned 60,000-80,000 citizenships under the contract, 4,000 passports a year in the Cabinet memo, 10,000-15,000 a year expected in South Korea, 80,000 people and VT 40 billion in the agent's claim; new indicator cbi_grants_planned) and 2 events (agent appointment 20 Jun 1997, sub-agent contract 14 Jul 1997). Not recorded: the agent's earlier Solomon Islands proposal (another country, rejected), the Ombudsman's own margin arithmetic (VT 2.3 million per person) and personal details of the agent.