The Times - UK (2022-04-30)

the times | Saturday April 30 2022 2GM 3

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ant to lead the party in prayer before

they sat down to finalise the deal.

Despite its tiny size, the archipelago

retains huge influence in the secretive

and controversial world of offshore

finance. Hundreds of thousands of

clandestine companies are registered

in the territory, controlling billions of

dollars in assets from across the globe.

The sting has also run in parallel with

a commission of inquiry set up by the

BVI’s former governor, Augustus Jas-

pert, and overseen by the retired British

judge Sir Gary Hickinbottom, into the

governance of the territory. The in-

quiry uncovered allegations of system-

ic corruption and cronyism, including

widespread misuse of public funds.

Yesterday it recommended that

direct rule of the islands effectively be

returned to London, with the territory’s

constitution suspended for two years.

Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, has

sent Amanda Milling, a junior minister,

to the BVI on a “fact-finding mission”.

Milling will report back to Truss who

will then make a decision on whether

the government should take direct con-

trol of the BVI. Truss said Fahie’s arrest

was “extremely concerning”.

Fahie had been eager to be involved

in the deal with the Mexican cartel, it is

alleged. According to the court docu-

ments, Maynard told the informant at a

meeting in March: “I know the type of

person he is. If he sees an opportunity,

he will take it. He is a little crook some-

times. He is not always straight.”

The Maynards introduced the DEA

source to Fahie on Tortola two weeks

later, where the premier complained

that “the British didn’t pay him much”

and claimed the government in

London wanted him removed from

office, the court documents alleged.

Fahie did suspect a sting, but the lure

of the money was too great. In one

exchange, outlined in the court papers,

the premier asked the informant direct-

ly if he was an undercover agent. The

informant said no and sought to reas-

sure Fahie. “First of all, you’re not

touching anything,” the informant said,

referring to the cocaine. “I will touch

one thing,” Fahie allegedly replied, “the

money.”

How Miami Vice snared premier

Hugh Tomlinson Washington

Drug sting a new blow

for troubled paradise

Behind the story

A

ndrew Fahie,

who allegedly

used a calculator

to work out his

12 per cent share

of a drug deal, spent his

early career as a

mathematics teacher at a

British Virgin Islands high

school (Will Humphries

writes).

By the age of 28 he was

elected member for the

First District of the BVI, a

position he has held since

the 1999 general election.

Now the territory’s

premier, aged 51, he is

known as a charismatic

figure who plays the

organ at his local

church. His

popularity with his

electorate, and his

ability to beat

anyone who has

challenged him,

earned him

the

nickname

“the Brown

Bomber”,

a reference

to Joe Louis, the celebrated

heavyweight boxing

champion.

His rise to power started

when he became minister

for education, culture and

youth affairs in 2000,

before becoming a member

of the opposition in 2003.

In the same year he was a

member of Her Majesty’s

loyal opposition, he was

reported to be under

investigation in relation to

allegations of money

laundering.

Fahie has never denied

that such an investigation

took place but he has

always contended that

no action was taken

against him as a

result of it.

He has referred

to the allegations

as “outdated,

unproven, and

unsubstantiated.”

When his

party

returned

to power

in 2007

he again

took up

the

role of

education

and culture

minister, before

returning to opposition in

2011.

In more recent years he

was involved in a power

struggle to lead his party.

By 2019 he had led the

party to victory in a

general election on a

pledge to clean up politics.

He was sworn in as

premier by Augustus

Jaspert, then governor of

the British Overseas

Territory.

Two months after his

election, Fahie ordered a

new official car — an

£85,000 Cadillac Escalade

— without going through

the normal tender process.

He said the previous vehicle

had been “embarrassing”

and that he required a new

one for safety reasons.

Last year Jaspert

appointed a judge to

investigate corruption

claims and an alleged

culture of intimidation in

the islands.

The

govern-

ment

asked Sir

Geoffrey Cox, a

serving Conservative MP

who was attorney-general

until February 2020, to

represent it.

The dossier of allegations

handed to Sir Gary

Hickinbottom, a British

judge heading the inquiry,

included:

6 £29 million of funds

intended for families

struggling with the

pandemic being given

instead as cash handouts to

political allies.

6 Misuse of up to

£70 million of taxpayers’

money on infrastructure

and transport projects.

6 A £5.1 million grant given

to an airline for direct

flights to the United States

that never flew.

6 £23 million excess

spending on a pier for

cruise ships after contracts

were awarded to political

allies.

6 A wall at a high school

that cost £730,000 after

alleged corruption in

contracts.

There has been dismay in

Whitehall that Fahie has

passed laws allowing the

commercial growing of

cannabis and

decriminalisation of the

drug, and reform of

gambling laws to allow

casinos.

He responded to the

order of an official

investigation with an

apparent threat to push for

independence.

Fahie accused the

governor last year of

improperly ordering the

inquiry based on “rumours

and unfounded allegations”

and of damaging the

islands’ international

reputation.

The premier suggested

that the islands could seek

full independence from the

UK, saying: “This is

important for our journey

to self-determination.”

The 2016 Panama Papers

scandal exposed world

leaders and business giants

using the BVI to avoid tax

and conceal their wealth

and assets overseas.

Russian oligarchs have

allegedly siphoned money

to the territory over recent

weeks in an attempt to

sidestep sanctions over the

war in Ukraine.

the

role of

education

and culture

minister, before

returningtooppositionin

The

govern-

ment

asked Sir

GGeoffrey Cox, a

servingConservativeMP

ALAMY

Road Town on Tortola, the

capital of the British Virgin

Islands. Left, Andrew Fahie

and his wife Sheila. Below,

Oleanvine Maynard

Facing an offer he could not refuse from
what he thought was a Mexican drug
cartel, the premier of the British Virgin
Islands pulled out a calculator to work
out his 12 per cent cut.
Andrew Fahie, 51, reckoned he would
get $7.8 million for allowing the traffick-
ers to smuggle cocaine through ports
on the islands in the British Overseas
Territory that he runs, the US author-
ities have alleged.
The leader of the Caribbean archipel-
ago, among the remnants of the British
Empire, was arrested by undercover
agents in a sting operation at Miami air-
port on Thursday and accused of trying
to smuggle drugs into the US.
When he met an informant masquer-
ading as a member of the powerful
Sinaloa drug cartel, he sought to justify
his actions by saying the “British didn’t
pay him much”, court documents say.
The sting began as a meeting
between the informant, who was work-
ing for the US Drug Enforcement
Agency (DEA), and men claiming to be
members of the Lebanese militant
group, Hezbollah, in October.
Over several meetings, the DEA op-
erative claimed that the cartel he
worked for, previously run by the infa-
mous Mexican drug lord Joaquín Guz-
mán, known as “El Chapo”, wanted
Hezbollah’s assistance in using the BVI
as a staging post for smuggling cocaine
from Colombia to the United States.
The “self-proclaimed Lebanese
Hezbollah operatives... stated they had
business ties to south Florida” and
could introduce the informant to
“senior BVI officials”. The group said
the BVI government would offer pro-

tection for the traffickers and help to
launder the proceeds, for a price.
One militant offered to set up a meet-
ing with the head of security for Fahie.
He also claimed that he “owned”
Oleanvine Maynard, head of the terri-
tory’s ports authority.
The sting reached its climax on
Thursday when Fahie and Maynard
were arrested by DEA agents on a pri-
vate jet in Miami as they came to in-
spect designer shopping bags holding
$700,000 in fake cash, a pay-off for stor-
ing 3,000kg of cocaine in a BVI port
before the shipment could be smuggled
into the US through Puerto Rico. As he
was led away, according to the agents,
Fahie said: “Why am I getting arrested?
I don’t have any money or drugs.”
Fahie and Maynard, dressed in pris-
on uniforms, appeared via Zoom in the
US court for the Southern District of
Florida yesterday, charged with drug
trafficking and money laundering. A
pretrial hearing was set for next
Wednesday. Maynard’s son, Kadeem, is
also in custody, accused of helping to
negotiate the deal. In a recording,
secretly taped by the DEA, Kadeem
allegedly claimed he had been traffick-
ing drugs for 20 years.
The day before his arrest, Fahie
confided to an undercover agent he
“believed in witches and magic and
how to read lies in people”. At a meeting
in Miami with the DEA informant and
an undercover officer on Wednesday
evening, the premier asked the inform-

Caribbean Sea

Cuba

Puerto

Rico

100 miles

Beef

Island

Virgin

Tortola Gorda

2 miles

British Virgin Islands