During the Mehul Choksi kidnapping and extra rendition saga in Dominica, defenders of the PM Skerrit and his administration argued that the Dominica government has a moral responsibility to send Mehul Choksi back to India to answer to allegations of criminal racketeering. The argument posed by the Skerrit defenders had nothing to do with morality or crime fighting but an attempt to cover up the shameful conduct by Roosevelt Skerrit and his administration. By all indications, the government of Dominica had collaborated with criminals to kidnap and torture Choksi and then transport him from Antigua into Dominica where he would be forcibly placed on a chartered plane directly to India.

Let us now see how the very same Skerrit defenders contort with this new revelation.

Sometime in February of 2019 the Turkish government made a request to the government of Dominica for the cancellation of the Dominican passport held by an absconding Turkish Citizen name Yasam Ayavefe.

Yasam Ayavefe has been widely known as an accused illegal betting and gambling Baron. Many reporting agencies out of Turkey have linked Yasam Ayavefe as head of an organized crime syndicate and that in February of 2019 Yaşam Ayavefe, who was being sought with an Interpol 'red bulletin' for illegal internet gambling, was wanted by the Turkish Authorities.

In one report it says “Gambling baron Hayat Ayavefe's illegal gambling and betting sites betmatic and tipobet365 that have devastated citizens. The gambling baron lives a life of luxury with millions made through these sites. The gambling baron has 2,200,000 followers on Instagram.” Yasam was eventually arrested in Greece and extradited to Turkey.

We spoke to a few international investigative journalists requesting information on Dominica’s  CBI program and the credibility of it’s due diligence process. The journalists were concern and of the belief that in spite of the Yasam Ayavefe being placed on an  Interpol red Bulleting in 2019 he was able to purchase a Dominica Passport in November of 2020. We did our own investigation and found out that Yasam Ayavefe had declared himself a Dominican national as far back as 2014 and so we believe that he did not purchase his Dominican passport in November 2020 but instead the Dominica passport may have been renewed in November 25, 2020.

 While the Citizenship By Investment (CBI) program offers requited benefit to both the applicant and the issuing country, the individual(s) receiving that citizenship certificate is in fact receiving an honor and the government of the issuing country should have the rights to rescind that honor and citizenship when that individual brings the name of the country into disrepute. Where an applicant commits egregious offences after the fact or may have slipped through proper due diligence processes most countries operating CBI programs do have provisions for revocation of citizenship- Dominica included. According to legal experts the revocation of citizenship becomes convoluted if it is deemed that the person becomes stateless or as in the case of Mehul Choksi when an applicant is not allowed dual citizenship and had to renounce his or her original citizenship.

As far as we know it, Yasam Ayavefe had not been slated to become stateless had the government of Dominica abrogated his citizenship when it was requested by the Turkish law enforcement. The government of Dominica should now explain to us why an accused gambling baron, arrested by Interpol was able to have his passport renewed even after the accused international criminal had been arrested by INTERPOL. But then again –What do we expect from a government operating as a criminal enterprise.

“It is not a shame to be deceived  but it is to stay in deception”

The government of Dominica through it’s spin doctors cannot deny Yasam Ayavefe passport nor the renewal thereof. They also cannot use the old Tony Astaphan excuse that “ it was the Dominican Republic and not commonwealth of Dominica.” Just in case Anthony Astaphan, Clarence Christian or any other shameless characters try to discredit our reporting - we were able to acquire a copy of  Yasam Ayavefe Dominican passport.