British Virgin Islands premier Andrew Fahie
(Picture: AP)The premier of the British Virgin Islands claimed he is immune from prosecution on cocaine-smuggling charges.
Andrew Fahie claimed he can’t be prosecuted because he is elected, head of government of the British overseas territory.
The 51-year-old demanded his immediate release from US custody in a filing made by his lawyer with Miami federal court on Monday.
Fahie was arrested last week by members of US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agents posing as Mexican drug traffickers in a US drug enforcement administration sting.
At the time, he was preparing to board a private jet in Miami.
In the criminal complaint, his ports director Oleanvine Maynard called Fahie a “little crook sometimes”.
The ports director claimed Fahie would not hesitate to profit from a plan cooked up with the help of self-proclaimed Lebanese Hezbollah operatives to move mass quantities of cocaine and drug proceeds through the Caribbean island.
His arrest sent shockwaves through the British Virgin Islands.
Already Fahie was facing allegations of widespread corruption in the British Virgin Islands.
Fahie, who also serves as the finance minister, was said to have travelled to Miami to attend a conference for the cruise industry.
Ahead of his departure, he had appointed a deputy to act as premier in his absence.
Governor John Rankin, who is the Queen’s representative to the islands and its ultimate executive authority, said the arrests prompted him to release, earlier than originally intended, a report by a commission of inquiry launched in January 2021 to investigate allegations of widespread government fraud.
Mr Rankin said the inquiry concluded millions of dollars were spent on projects, some of them linked to allies of the premier, which were abandoned or found to be of no public benefit.
"Some of them were, on their face, false," the governor said.
Mr Rankin told a televised news conference the commission had concluded "unless the most urgent and drastic steps are taken, the current situation with elected officials deliberately ignoring the tenets of good governance will go on indefinitely”.
