ANOTHER NAME SURFACES IN CONNECTION WITH ARRESTED BVI PREMIER'S PROPOSED COOPERATION, ALSO FROM DOMINICA

As a follow-up to our recent article, Arrested BVO Premier seeks to Mitigate his Sentence by Cooperating against Other Corrupt East Caribbean Leaders (May 3, 2022), we have corresponded with our sources, in an effort to learn additional details about who Fahie alleges he has incriminating information and evidence against, sufficient to return a reduced prison sentence. Our original information is that overtures have been made, to representatives of a certain US Government agency, which was promised to be furnished in exchange for a motion to the Court, after a guilty plea, to insure that a sentence below the US Sentencing Guidelines would result. His testimony in open court, against those individuals, all involved to his personal knowledge to be engaged in illegal activities, would be required. This has reportedly caused dismay in a number of East Caribbean capitals where corruption and money laundering of the proceeds of crime are rampant. 

Our latest information is more specific. We were able to secure a small number of additional names at this time, as we are advised that there are several Caribbean officials and leaders whose names have already been disclosed. We are withholding the release of those we cannot confirm, pending verification; we note that they also include the names of British Virgin Islanders. 

As regular readers already know,  Dominica Prime Minister ROOSEVELT SKERRIT has been named. One other individual identified by our source is also from the Commonwealth of Dominica. He is ANTHONY ASTAPHAN,  the longtime adviser to PM Roosevelt Skerrit, and to Dominica's controversial Citizenship by Investment (CBI) passport programme. Astaphan, known to local media as "Little Tony," is related by marriage to a powerful political family in Antigua & Barbuda. He holds no political office in Dominica, possibly due to the fact that he allegedly holds foreign passports, and has long concealed his actual citizenship status. He is of Lebanese origin.

Astaphan's relationship to the arrested now ex-Premier Fahie (he has now been replaced) is not known, but given his close relationship with Skerrit, and his legal representation of a number of Caribbean leaders who have been in legal trouble over the years, he is believed to be the power behind the throne in several countries that sell Citizenship by Investment (CBI) passports, working behind the scenes.

As we secure independent confirmation, additional details on who Fahie has named, in his desperate move to mitigate what is a potential 20-year sentence in an American prison, will be released on this blog.