Latest news with #US130
Scoop
a day ago
- Politics
- Scoop
Influencer Not Disqualified From Vanuatu 'Golden Passport' Due To No Conviction
Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific Journalist A Pacific editor for the newsroom that found online influencer Andrew Tate has Vanuatu citizenship says Tate was not disqualified from getting the "golden passport" because he has not been convicted. Tate, a self-described misogynist, faces charges of rape and human trafficking in both the United Kingdom and Romania. The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) found Tate was granted citizenship in December 2022. Dan McGarry, an editor with OCCRP, said the passport was issued about 15 days after Tate was detained in Romania. Tate bought into the "golden passport" scheme, formally known as citizenship by investment, where applicants can be granted Vanuatu citizenship for a minimum investment of $US130,000. McGarry said the citizenship commissioner - who has been newly appointed in the role - was surprised to find out who Tate was. "He expressed regret, but at the same time, he said that once a submission has been made, once the application is put to the commission, nothing short of a criminal conviction or false representation on the application itself is sufficient to stop the process," McGarry said. He said despite the charges, because Tate has not been convicted, "none of that is disqualifying". "I think if it comes out that there's a conviction that arises, it's possible that his citizenship may be revoked as a result." McGarry said there are several reasons why people want a Vanuatu passport, including not for nefarious reasons. "There is a fairly legitimate argument to be made for citizens of repressive regimes whose travel is restricted by their local authorities." But for Tate, Vanuatu citizenship could have seemed appealing because there's no extradition treaty between Vanuatu and Romania. "[Tate's] on the record saying that he has multiple passports and that he prefers to live in places where he can effectively buy his way out of any problem that he's facing. "However, he's now facing criminal charges in the UK as well. That was just confirmed last week and there is a very long-standing extradition agreement between the UK and Vanuatu, so I'm not sure the passport is going to do what he thought it would do originally." Citizenship by investment started in 1984 in the Caribbean, with Vanuatu launching its own scheme in 2017. "It structured it in such a way that it was very easy for people outside of Vanuatu to insert themselves into the process by acting as sub agents, effectively selling citizenship and that made it very lucrative," McGarry said. Until 2024, Vanuatu citizens had visa-free access to the Schengen area in the EU. "It made the Vanuatu passport very, very attractive, and the price was somewhat better than some of the earlier programs," McGarry said. He said citizenship by investment programmes at one point were the single largest source of government revenue in Vanuatu. "You can imagine how attractive that made it to politicians who had always been very financially limited in terms of delivering programmes for people domestically. "It's been very, very hard for the government to walk away from it, because there's just so much money to be made." The Vanuatu Citizenship Commission chairman, Charles Maniel, has told the Vanuatu Daily Post it can't carry out any revocation until allegations are proven by a court of law.
West Australian
21-05-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Wesfarmers tips $60m loss at Covalent Lithium joint venture with SQM, expects more pain ahead
Wesfarmers has revealed it expects to book a $60 million loss for its share of the Covalent Lithium joint venture this year as it concedes prices for the key battery metal will remain depressed in the short term. And it warned investors that figure could climb even high in 2025-26. But the retail conglomerate — which holds an equal share of the $2.6 billion joint venture along with Chile's SQM — told analysts at an investor briefing day in Sydney on Thursday that it expects demand to remain strong over the medium to long term. Covalent runs the Mt Holland mine south of Southern Cross and is building a lithium hydroxide refinery at Kwinana. Wesfarmers told analysts that global electric vehicle penetration was forecast to increase from 19 per cent in 2024 to 41 per cent over the next six years, and that new supply would be required 'to meet anticipated strong long-term demand'. But it acknowledged new global lithium projects coming on line were holding back a price rebound. Prices of the spodumene concentrate produced by WA miners to power EV are yet to show any meaningful signs of improvement and remain more than 90 per cent off their late 2022 peak. The prevailing price is currently $US690 a tonne, according to Shanghai Metals Market, down about $US130/t in the space of a month and continuing a broad decline over the past two years. Wesfarmers also pointed to the global upheaval caused by President Donald Trump's war on tariffs as a potential threat to a price recovery. 'The full impact of US tariffs on the battery value chain is unknown and creates uncertainty in the short term,' it said. Wesfarmers' share of output from Mt Holland this financial year is set to come in at about 140,000 to 150,000 tonnes as the plant ramps up to nameplate capacity. It said the following financial year would be one of transition, with higher unit costs expected as the lithium hydroxide refinery at Kwinana ramps over an 18-moth period after first product. The refinery is now 88 per cent complete and commissioning is due to start by the middle of this year. 'At current subdued pricing, losses in FY26 are expected to be greater than FY25, impacted by the timing of ramp up and product qualification,' it said. Wesfarmers will be hoping to avoid the problems that have held back production of its neighbour. IGO's refinery has been plagued by technical problems for years and chief executive Ivan Vella earlier this month conceded the miner was running out of patience with the project it shares with Tianqi. IGO and Tianqi in January aborted expansion works at Kwinana and shortly after crossed out $525m of the refinery's book value. The operation incurred a net earnings loss of $161.1m for the first half of the 2025 financial year. Mr Vella said the battery metals producer 'cannot continue to just spend money' at the Kwinana refinery 'without a clear path of where that takes us economically'.
