Vanuatu looks at the withdrawal of his golden passport

The Vanuatu authorities look at the withdrawal of the citizenship of Andrew Tate after it has been revealed that he has acquired a golden passport for rape and human trafficking around the same time with his arrest in 2022 in Romania.

The self-written misogynistic influencer acquired citizenship under a fast-track schedule for those who invest at least $ 130,000 (£ 96,000) in the small Pacific archipelago, according to an investigation by the organized crime and corruption report project.

The regulation has expressed the safety problems and led the European Union to withdraw the visa -free privilege of Vanuatu at the end of 2024.

A spokesperson for the Vanuatu government said that the authorities “absolutely investigated the citizenship of Tate.

“As soon as we have the files, the processes will certainly be to withdraw his citizenship,” Kiery Manassah told ABC News.

“The government does not want to encourage people with questionable backgrounds to get citizenship,” he added. “Those who are sought by their countries or who are investigated from abroad by police authorities are not welcome to be part of the Vanuatu citizens.”

Passports for sale or citizenship through investment schemes are a source of income for countries such as Vanuatu. But they are also abused by organized crime suspects, oligarchs and even intelligence agents, said Aubrey Belford, editor -in -chief of the Pacific at OCCRP.

“It has caused a lot of alarm because it is one of those meshes with which people can get a new passport or even a new identity and avoid law enforcement,” Belford told ABC News.

Vanuatu granted Tate Citizenship in December 2022. That same month, Tate and his brother Tristan were arrested in Romania and have since been largely under travel restrictions in the country.

Vanuatu does not have a formal extradition treaty with Romania.

It is unclear whether Tristan Tate also acquired the citizenship of Vanuatu.

In recent years, Andrew Tate has built up a huge online presence, including more than 10 million followers on X, who share his lifestyle of fast cars, private jets and yachts.

He has also gained worldwide fame for his views on women, who proudly proclaims himself a “misogynist” and also uses extreme language with regard to acts of violence against women.

He was also selected for the effect he had in distributing misogynia online among boys and young men by authorities in the UK.

The Tate brothers were both born in the US, but moved with their mother to Luton in the UK after their parents are divorced.

They have denied accusations of criminal misconduct.

The UK searches separately in search of their extradition from Romania after they were In 2024 of rape, actually physical injury and human trafficking..

Lawyers for the brothers said that They will return to the UK to face those costsThis was the result of a statement between 2012 and 2015.

A Romanian Hof has ruled that the brothers could be extradited to the UK after the end of a trial there.