After the British Virgin Islands’ leader was detained in Miami on suspicion of cocaine trafficking and a UK-appointed commission of investigation identified widespread governance failures, Britain is prepared to impose a kind of direct authority over the Caribbean island.
Andrew Fahie appeared in federal court in Miami on Friday, a day after he was seized by the US Drug Enforcement Administration in a sting operation that also netted the BVI port authority’s top executive and her son. Federal prosecutors accused him with cocaine trafficking and money laundering conspiracies late Friday night.
The panel of investigation, which was established in 2021, uncovered extensive violations, including the misappropriation of millions of dollars in government funding each year by politicians and departments without due process.
The panel, chaired by Judge Sir Gary Hickinbottom, proposed that the territory’s constitution be suspended, its elected government be disbanded, and the territory be effectively administered from London in its final report.
The audit demonstrated “clearly that major legislative and constitutional change is necessary to restore the standards of governance that the people of the BVI are entitled to,” said Liz Truss, the UK foreign secretary.
When the UK gained control of the Turks and Caicos Islands in 2009, it was the last time it imposed direct authority on an overseas territory, and the British government is plainly concerned about how its plans would be received on the islands.
Amanda Milling, the UK’s minister for overseas territories, is on her way to the BVI for talks with local officials.
Allegations of widespread criminality on the BVI prompted authorities in the United States and the United Kingdom to take diametrically opposed approaches, with the United Kingdom establishing a public commission of inquiry dominated by lawyers and the United States launching an elaborate undercover police operation that led to the arrest of the territory’s most senior elected official.
The BVI commission of investigation was established in 2021 in response to claims of high-level corruption and drug trafficking on the islands.
The commission did not look into those charges, but its 1,000-page report stated that maladministration was so widespread that it would be difficult to eliminate corruption and conflicts of interest in contract awarding, public office nominations, and money management.
Drug trafficking has become a key route for narcotics entering the United States, and the UK has been under growing pressure to crack down on it.
Fahie was apprehended aboard a private plane in Miami, where he was shown a $700,000 payment in exchange for permitting BVI ports to be used as a “resting spot” for cocaine from Mexico before being delivered to Puerto Rico and Miami.
In a series of encounters, US agencies wiretapped an informant serving as a drug runner and arranged a transaction worth more than $7 million, according to Fahie.
Fahie did not speak at a court hearing held through Zoom on Friday, other than to declare his name and date of birth and to agree to the hearing being held online. The date for the bail hearing has been scheduled for next Wednesday.
