Corruption fighter warns: Don’t bring back ‘golden visas’ under new guise

Investment funds are lobbying the government to retain the ‘citizenship-for-sale’ visas, but international corruption fighter Bill Browder says that shouldn’t be allowed to happen.

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The battle over Labor’s axing of “golden visas” has intensified, with major foreign investment fund managers planning to lobby Anthony Albanese to retain the program.

Corruption fighter Bill Browder, however, has warned the government against reintroducing the citizenship-for-sale scheme under a new guise.

“It’s a big win for transparency and anti-corruption for Australia to axe the golden visa scheme,” said Mr Browder, who was responsible for the creation of the Magnitsky Act – a law adopted in Australia and other countries to sanction individuals for abuses committed overseas.

“Many dubious characters from authoritarian regimes use it to launder their money and reputations,” he told The Australian.

On Monday, The Australian revealed the entire Business Innovation and Investment Program has been quietly closed to new applications over claims it has had a profoundly negative impact on the economy and after revelations foreign criminals and corrupt regime officials had used the Significant Investor Visa to gain permanent residence here for investments of $5m.

Some industry sources were confident a form of the SIV would be retained under a new name and with new conditions, probably requiring a minimum investment of $10m into more targeted venture capital projects.

Mr Browder cautioned against any attempt to reintroduce the “golden visa” under a new guise. “I very much hope it doesn’t just get quietly replaced by some other similar system,” he said.

British-American financier Bill Browder successfully campaigned for Australia to introduce tough new Magnitsky Laws targeting crooked foreign agents.

The government has touted a proposed new Talent and Innovation Visa to attract “high-­performing entrepreneurs, major investors and ­global researchers”, conceding that “permanent residency is an important drawcard to attract these migrants as we compete with other nations in the global race for talent”.

Transparency International Australia chief Clancy Moore welcomed “the strong stance taken by Home Affairs Minister Claire O’Neil in deciding to scrap the golden visa scheme”.

“We encourage the government to firmly shut the door on wealthy people being able to buy citizenship as these schemes are often used by criminals and corrupt officials to launder the proceeds of crime and avoid regulation,” Mr Moore said.

Sydney-based venture capital outfit Sapien Ventures called for the federal government to urgently reconsider its decision to scrap the SIV program, saying the scheme was unique in mandating that all money invested had to stay in Australia, at a time when many Australian super funds were investing in companies headquartered overseas.

Sapien Ventures managing director Victor Jiang said he was planning to write to both the Prime Minister and Ms O’Neil telling them they had made “a great mistake and it couldn’t come at a worse time, frankly”.

“The Australian innovation economy is really losing out on this misguided conclusion the government has arrived at, despite inputs from the industry, and we’re ready to make this debate much more public,” Mr Jiang said.

“I am devastated on behalf of entrepreneurs across Australia because this is the one group that we have been funding partly through investors’ capital sourced from the SIV program, and every dollar has been channelled to entrepreneurs in Australia.

“It’s just shooting ourselves in the foot because there is a real dearth of capital in Australia.”

Lance Li, left, and Victor Jiang are venture capitalists and co-founders of Sapien Ventures, bringing wealthy Chinese to Australia as part of the millionaires' visa scheme. Picture: James Croucher

Sapien Ventures SIV clients were all self-made entrepreneurs with significant business acumen who brought with them the resources and business ties from their home countries, he said.

“I’ve been spending a lot of time in Southeast Asia, particularly Singapore and Indonesia, and the vibrancy of the eco­system there, the startup community, the venture capital community, they are growing at an explosive rate while here in Australia we literally have government policymakers sleeping at the wheel.”

Mr Jiang said he didn’t believe the scheme was being abused to bring “dirty money” into Australia but it was the responsibility of the government to filter applicants. He said he would welcome a reinstatement of the venture capital component of the SIV, although the reported $10m minimum investment was a high bar.