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Comoros Passport Sales Scandal
The Comoros passport sales scandal is a corruption, public funds embezzlement, bribery, and money laundering scheme in connection with a citizenship by investment program launched by the government of the Comoros Islands. Proceeds from the program were intended to finance development in the country but were instead embezzled by the perpetrators of the scheme, which include Syrian fugitive businessman Bashar Kiwan and two former Comorian Presidents. The 2008 Comoros Economic Citizenship bill that established the citizenship by investment program was originally marketed to the Comoran National Assembly by the perpetrators as an opportunity to draw inbound investment into the Comoros from wealthy Gulf investors, but after its passage was promoted to the governments of UAE and Kuwait as a deal to sell Comoran citizenships en masse so they could be freely distributed among the bedoon (stateless) residents of those countries. Additionally, thousands of passports were alleged t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comorian Passport
The Comorian passport is issued to citizens of the Union of the Comoros for international travel. As of 1 January 2017, Comorian citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 48 countries and territories, ranking the Comorian passport 88th in terms of travel freedom (tied with Algerian, Cambodian, Egyptian, Guinean and Laotian passports) according to the Henley visa restrictions index. The UAE and other countries in the Persian Gulf have a partnership with Comoros in which Comoros Islands passports are given to many stateless people (including dissidents). The Comoros Island passport sales scheme The Comoros Island passport sales scheme was created in 2006 by former businessman Bashar Kiwan and the then president of the Comoros Abdallah Sambi and stayed on course with his successor Ikililou Dhoinine. The citizenship by investment program was presented as a bilateral solution to achieve the dual objectives of developing the infrastructure of the Comoros Islands and " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comorian Citizenship
Comorian nationality law is regulated by the Constitution of the Comoros, as amended; the Comorian Nationality Code, and its revisions; and various international agreements to which the country is a signatory. These laws determine who is, or is eligible to be, a national of the Comoros. The legal means to acquire nationality, formal legal membership in a nation, differ from the domestic relationship of rights and obligations between a national and the nation, known as citizenship. Comorian nationality is typically obtained under the principle of jus soli, i.e. by birth in the Comoros, or jus sanguinis, born abroad to parents with Comorian nationality. It can be granted to persons with an affiliation to the country, or to a permanent resident who has lived in the country for a given period of time through naturalization. The country no longer allows for nationality to be acquired through investment. Acquisition of nationality Nationality can be acquired in the Comoros at birth o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comoro Gulf Holdings (CGH)
Comoro Gulf Holdings (CGH), sometimes referred to as ''Comoros Gulf Holding'' or ''Comoro Gulf Holding'', was an investment company, set up by Syrian businessmen Bachar Kiwan and Majd Suleiman and Kuwaiti businessmen Sheikh Sabah Jaber Mubarak Al-Sabah and Mohammed Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi, that had worked closely with former Comorian president Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi, and "monopolized investment and development on the islands." Activities 2008 Comoros Economic Citizenship Program In 2006 Bachar Kiwan, the founder of Comoro Gulf Holding (CGH) began to lobby the Comoros legislature to enact a controversial citizenship by investment scheme in which his close associate, Comoros ex-President Ahmed Abdallah Sambi would have discretion to grant citizenships. Promises of an investment of more than $100 million on behalf of wealthy Gulf investors were made by Comoro Gulf Holdings (CGH), to sell the legislation to Comoran lawmakers. In 2008, Said Attoumani, the former Comoran mini ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
VICE News
Vice News (stylized as VICE News) is Vice Media's current affairs channel, producing daily documentary essays and video through its website and YouTube channel. It promotes itself on its coverage of "under-reported stories". Vice News was created in December 2013 and is based in New York City, though it has bureaus worldwide. History Before Vice News was founded, ''Vice'' published news documentaries and news reports from around the world through its YouTube channel alongside other programs. ''Vice'' had reported on events such as crime in Venezuela, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, protests in Turkey, the North Korean and Iranian regimes, the Uyghur genocide, and the Syrian Civil War through their own YouTube channel and website. After the creation of Vice News as a separate division, its reporting greatly increased with worldwide coverage starting immediately with videos published on YouTube and articles on its website daily. In December 2013, Vice Media expanded its in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi Detail 080701-F-1644L-150
Ahmad ( ar, أحمد, ʾAḥmad) is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other spellings of the name include Ahmed and Ahmet. Etymology The word derives from the root (ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from the verb (''ḥameda'', "to thank or to praise"), non-past participle (). Lexicology As an Arabic name, it has its origins in a Quranic prophecy attributed to Jesus in the Quran which most Islamic scholars concede is about Muhammad. It also shares the same roots as Mahmud, Muhammad and Hamed. In its transliteration, the name has one of the highest number of spelling variations in the world. Though Islamic scholars attribute the name Ahmed to Muhammed, the verse itself is about a Messenger named Ahmed, whilst Muhammed was a Messenger-Prophet. Some Islamic traditions view the name Ahmad as another given name of Muhammad at birth by his mother, considered by Muslims to be the more esoteric name of Muhammad and central to understanding his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mohamed Ali Soilihi
Mohamed Ali Soilihi (born ca. 1950 in Mbeni, Grande Comore) is a Comorian politician from Grande Comore who served as Vice-President of Union of the Comoros for Ministry of Finance, Budget, Foreign Trade and Economy of Comoros. He served in the cabinet of Ikililou Dhoinine from May 2011 to May 2016. Soilihi was Minister of Production (Agriculture, Livestock, Water and Forests and Fisheries), Rural Development, Industry and Handicrafts, from January 1985 to March 1990. He was Minister of Finance from December 1996 to June 1998. He was the chief of staff to the President of the Republic from July 1998 to January 1999. He was again Minister of Finance from March 2007 to June 2009. He was also the candidate of Union for the Development of the Comoros for 2016 Comorian presidential election in which he refused to accept his defeat in the election. He studied agronomy, economics and development at the École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Toulouse. In 2018, Soilihi was charg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
High Treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state. A person who commits treason is known in law as a traitor. Historically, in common law countries, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife or that of a master by his servant. Treason (i.e. disloyalty) against one's monarch was known as ''high treason'' and treason against a lesser superior was '' petty treason''. As jurisdictions around the world abolished petty treason, "treason" came to refer to what was historically known as high treason. At times, the term ''traitor'' has been used as a political epithet, regardless of any verifiable treasonable action. In a civil war ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comoro Gulf Holdings
Comoro Gulf Holdings (CGH), sometimes referred to as ''Comoros Gulf Holding'' or ''Comoro Gulf Holding'', was an investment company, set up by Syrian businessmen Bachar Kiwan and Majd Suleiman and Kuwaiti businessmen Sheikh Sabah Jaber Mubarak Al-Sabah and Mohammed Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi, that had worked closely with former Comorian president Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi, and "monopolized investment and development on the islands." Activities 2008 Comoros Economic Citizenship Program In 2006 Bachar Kiwan, the founder of Comoro Gulf Holding (CGH) began to lobby the Comoros legislature to enact a controversial citizenship by investment scheme in which his close associate, Comoros ex-President Ahmed Abdallah Sambi would have discretion to grant citizenships. Promises of an investment of more than $100 million on behalf of wealthy Gulf investors were made by Comoro Gulf Holdings (CGH), to sell the legislation to Comoran lawmakers. In 2008, Said Attoumani, the former Comoran mini ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Majd Bahjat Suleiman
Majd Bahjat Suleiman ( ar, مجد بهجت سليمان, born 28 October 1974), also known as ''Majd Suleiman'' or ''Majid Suleiman'', is a Dubai-based Syrian businessman and son of the former Syrian ambassador to Jordan and intelligence chief Bahjat Suleiman. He is the owner of Syria's largest media conglomerate, United Group (UG) which also operates under the trade name AWI Company and is affiliated with Al Waseet International. Background Majd Suleiman is the son of former Syrian ambassador to Jordan and head of the internal branch of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate (GID) Bahjat Suleiman, and was identified by the United States Congressional Research Service as a "Key member of the Asad Family & Other Elites". His media conglomerate, United Group, owns and publishes '' Baladna'', one of two private daily newspapers covering political topics that have succeeded in staying open after the Syrian civil war, due to close ties to the Syrian government. His younger b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi
Sayyid Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi ( ar, أحمد عبدالله محمد سامبي, born 5 June 1958) is a Comoros, Comorian Islamic leader and politician, and former President of Comoros. He is popularly known as 'Ayatollah'. After easily winning the Comoros presidential election, 2006, 14 May 2006 presidential election with 58.02% of the national vote, Sambi was inaugurated as President of the Union of the Comoros on 26 May 2006. It was the first peaceful transition of power, peaceful transfer of power in the history of the Comoros. Personal life Sambi was born in Mutsamudu, on the island of Anjouan. He is a father of seven children including two named Intisware and Fatoumat. He owns factories which produce mattresses, bottled water and perfume - a key Comorian export. He lives above a shop called The House of Mattresses in Mutsamudu, the capital of Anjouan. He also set up a television station called Ulezi (education). He is of Hadhrami people, Hadhrami ancestry, descending fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2016 Comorian Presidential Election
Presidential elections were held in the Comoros on 21 February 2016, with a second round to be held on 10 April 2016, alongside elections for the Governors of the three islands. A re-run of the second round was held in thirteen constituencies on Anjouan on 11 May. Azali Assoumani of the Convention for the Renewal of the Comoros was elected President with 41% of the vote. Electoral system The presidency of the Comoros rotates between the country's three main islands; Anjouan, Grande Comore and Mohéli. The 2006 elections were limited to candidates from Anjouan and the 2010 elections to Mohélian candidates. As a result, the 2016 elections will see presidential candidacy limited to Grande Comore residents. A primary election took place on Grande Comore on 21 February, with the three top candidates progressing to the nationwide second round on 10 April, where a plurality determined the winner. Campaign On 30 October 2013 former President Ahmed Sambi launched the Juwa Party, annou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
