British Virgin Islands.
The United Kingdom intends to establish direct control on the British Virgin Islands.
Following the arrest of the British Virgin Islands’ leader in Miami on suspicion of cocaine trafficking, and the discovery of widespread governance problems by a UK-appointed commission of inquiry, Britain is preparing to impose a form of direct authority over the Caribbean territory.
Andrew Fahie appeared in federal court in Miami on Friday, a day after he was apprehended by the US Drug Enforcement Administration in a sting operation that also captured the chief administrator of the BVI Port Authority and her son. Late Friday night, federal prosecutors charged him with conspiracies involving cocaine trafficking and money laundering.
The inquiry team, which was formed in 2021, found numerous irregularities, including the misuse of millions of dollars in government funds each year.
In its final report, the panel, chaired by Judge Sir Gary Hickinbottom, advocated suspending the territory’s constitution, disbanding its elected government, and effectively administering the territory from London.
According to Liz Truss, the UK foreign secretary, the audit “clearly demonstrates that fundamental legislative and constitutional change is required to restore the standards of governance that the people of the BVI are entitled to.”
The last time the UK imposed direct power on an overseas territory was when it took control of the Turks and Caicos Islands in 2009, and the British government is clearly apprehensive about how its intentions will be greeted on the islands.
Amanda Milling, the UK’s overseas territories minister, is on her way to the British Virgin Islands for talks with local leaders.
Allegations of widespread criminality in the BVI prompted authorities in the US and the UK to take diametrically opposed approaches, with the UK establishing a public commission of inquiry dominated by lawyers and the US launching an elaborate undercover police operation that resulted in the arrest of the territory’s most senior elected official.
In response to allegations of high-level corruption and drug trafficking in the islands, the BVI commission of investigation was founded in 2021.
Although the panel did not investigate those allegations, it noted in its 1,000-page report that maladministration was so widespread that eliminating corruption and conflicts of interest in contract awarding, public office nominations, and money management would be impossible.
Drug trafficking has been a major route for narcotics into the United States, and the United Kingdom has been under increasing pressure to combat it.
Fahie was detained on a private plane in Miami, where he was shown a $700,000 payment in exchange for allowing BVI ports to be used as a “resting area” for cocaine en route to Puerto Rico and Miami.
US agencies wiretapped an informant working as a drug runner and arranged a transaction in a series of encounters.
