By INDERIA SAUNDERS, Guardian Staff Reporter

inderia@nasguard.com

Anna Nicole Smith was granted permanent residency after nearly three months, while under the former government, Victor Kozeny's status was awarded in nearly two, immigration officials pointed out yesterday.

Two months and seven days was the amount of time it took former Minister of Immigration Dr. Earl Deveaux to award Kozeny permanent residency status in the Bahamas, the current Minister of Immigration, Labour and Training, Shane Gibson, told The Nassau Guardian yesterday.

He said that he did not understand why the former minister was making "a big deal" out of that fact, when he himself had granted residency in even less time and the whole purpose was to get the process done as fast as possible.

"I don't understand the relevancy because we are inviting foreigners to "invest 500 thousand dollars in a home and once [they] do it [they] are qualified for permanent residency. What is the problem with doing it as quickly as possible?" Asked the minister. "I would even bring it down to two weeks if I could."

He confirmed that he was indeed on friendly terms with Anna Nicole Smith and added that visiting her in the hospital in her "moment of duress" was exactly what a friend would do in the circumstance. He mentioned that friendliness was one the factors that were marketed to the many wealthy people in the world who may want to invest in the country.

"That is how we sell the Bahamas - with a personal touch," said Mr. Gibson. "People want to come here because of the friendly nature of Bahamian people."

He added that the length of time within which Ms. Smith was granted status was not reflective of his friendship with her, and that he would definitely shorten this process to a lesser number of weeks if the proper diligence and relevant checks as well as required information were processed already.

"If I could do it in one day, I would do it," stated Mr. Gibson.

He questioned whether the foreigners that are invited to the country to invest in houses and so on should be wary if the opposition is re-elected.

"Should they be afraid now that if the FNM wins the next election they are going to make permanent residency a long and drawn out process," said Mr. Gibson. "If the FNM is so concerned with the issue they should have processed the thousands of applications that they left behind in office."