BVI AUDIT INTO INDICTED PREMIER'S CONTROVERSIAL $2m BARGE CONTRACT IS QUESTIONED

The Premier of the British Virgin Islands and two other elected officials have questioned the conclusions and motive behind the recent report of the territory's Auditor General, which was critical of a $2m contract authorized by disgraced former Premier Andrew Fahie. The AG report noted that the barges retained in the contract were not operational approximately one-half of the time payments were made for their use. Her conclusions clearly indicated that the payments were improper, and points the finger at Fahie. Were bribes or kickbacks paid?

Andrew Fahie, who is awaiting trial in Federal Court in Miami on charges of money laundering and narcotics trafficking, issued the contract on extremely favorable terms, amid questions of corruption, considering that he has admitted prior involvement assisting drug traffickers who regularly ship narcotics through British Virgin Islands territorial waters, en route to the United States. Did Fahie manipulate counterdrug operations to insure that narcotics shipments would pass through BVI waters successfully? He has a lot of questions to answer, and when he pleads out, we hope that all his prior criminal conduct is extracted from him.