Andrew Fahie was due to appear in court in Miami on Friday, a day after he was arrested by the US Drug Enforcement Administration in a complex operation that also trapped the BVI port’s chief executive and her son. Hours before his appearance in court, the commission of inquiry – which began in 2021 – reported widespread abuses, including millions of dollars in government resources spent each year by politicians and ministries without due process. In its highly critical final report, the commission, chaired by Judge Sir Gary Hickinbottom, recommended the suspension of the region’s constitution, the dissolution of its elected government and effective governance by London. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss did not immediately impose immediate control, but said the report showed “a clear need for substantive legislative and constitutional change to restore the governance standards to which the BVI people are entitled”. The UK is already in charge of defense and foreign policy in the BVI, which is a British overseas territory, but Governor-General John Rankin – Queen Elizabeth’s representative on the island – is now expected to take over all BVI domestic and budget policy. . The report is not directly linked to Fahie’s dramatic arrest, but the British government was well aware of the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s investigation into drug trafficking. Following the DEA sting operation on Thursday, British ministers decided to expedite the publication of the Hickinbottom report, short-circuiting a planned consultation process with island politicians. The United Kingdom last imposed direct overseas control when it took over the Turks and Caicos Islands in 2009, and the British government is clearly nervous about how its plans will be welcomed on the islands. The UK’s Overseas Secretary, Amanda Milling, is now flown to the BVI for talks with local officials. Allegations of rampant crime against the BVI have provoked completely opposite approaches from the US and UK authorities, with the UK adopting a public commission of inquiry headed by lawyers and the US launching a complex covert police operation that eventually led to the senior elected official of the area. The BVI commission of inquiry was launched in 2021 amid allegations of corruption and drugs operating at the highest level on the islands. These allegations were not investigated by the committee, but the 1,000-page report concluded that the mismanagement was so endemic that it would be impossible to prevent corruption and conflicts of interest in awarding contracts, appointments to public office and money management. . The United Kingdom is under increasing pressure to crack down on drug trafficking through the territory, which has become a major pipeline for drugs in the United States. Fahie was arrested on a private jet in Miami, where he was shown what he thought was a $ 700,000 payment in exchange for allowing BVI ports to be used as a “resting place” for cocaine from Mexico before being shipped to Puerto Rico and. . U.S. agents had intercepted an informant acting as a drug dealer, and in successive meetings negotiated a deal that Fahie estimated would bring him more than $ 7 million. In his report, Hickinbottom insisted that the suspension of the elected ministers “was not only justified, but necessary to address and end the abuses I have identified.” He said BVI’s successive governments “deliberately sought to avoid good governance by not setting up procedures and where such procedures exist by ignoring or ignoring them as they wish – which unfortunately often happens”. Hickinbottom said he had no desire to thwart the islands’s aspirations for self-determination as a modern democracy and recommended an annual constitutional review to end opportunities for abuse and dishonesty in public office. He urged the governor-general to set up an advisory body of locals, with whom he should consult on how to govern the island. Hickinbottom said he had made his recommendations, including dissolving the assembly, “with a heavy heart.” “[But] “Unless the most urgent and drastic steps are taken, the current situation with the elected government deliberately ignoring the principles of good governance will continue indefinitely,” he said.
