The citizenship by investment program was presented as a bilateral solution to achieve the dual objectives of developing the infrastructure of the Comoros Islands and "solving" the stateless resident issue in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf.
Specifically, it would allow the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait to purchase citizenship for 4,000 stateless families in those countries, known as Bidoon, in return the poor Indian Ocean archipelago would receive $200 million to be spent on development projects.
The first phase of the scheme, under Sambi, who was in power from 2006 to 2011, was meant to earn Comoros $200 million in return for giving citizenship to 4,000 stateless families.
[7][8][9] Sambi was jailed, and in September 2018 appealed to the Supreme Court to be granted unrestricted access to his lawyer to defend himself in the corruption case.
[11] From 21 to 24 November 2022, Ahmed Abdullah Sambi, Bashar Kiwan, Majd Suleiman, and other directors of Comoro Gulf Holdings were tried for high treason, embezzlement and money laundering of Comorian public funds allegedly diverted from the economic citizenship program.