After a United States judge confirmed a jury’s guilty verdicts against Andrew Fahie on drug-conspiracy charges, the territory he once led must now come to terms with the case’s conclusion.
This means healing, repairing shattered trust, and continuing the territory-wide work to discourage corruption and drug crime.
The Feb. 8 news of Mr. Fahie’s conviction on all four counts — conspiracy to import more than five kilograms of cocaine, conspiracy to engage in money laundering, attempted money laundering, and foreign travel in aid of racketeering — travelled quickly throughout the world.
After that, uncertainty arose when two jurors expressed concern about the verdict, but the judge settled the matter on March 7 after polling one of the jurors, who confirmed her original guilty verdict. (The other juror reportedly did not show up for the hearing despite a subpoena.)
The case now moves to sentencing. While Mr. Fahie is likely to appeal, he currently faces a minimum sentence of a decade in prison, which is a tough price to pay for anyone, but especially a person with a wife, two daughters and an extended family.
Beyond Mr. Fahie’s circumstances, it’s time for Virgin Islands officials to answer troubling questions that arose during the trial.
Much was said in the long hours of secretly recorded conversations involving Mr. Fahie, his two co-defendants, and an undercover US source going by the name “Roberto Quintero.”
For example, co-defendant Oleanvine Maynard, then the managing director of the BVI Ports Authority, boasted that she could easily get the licences needed to help Mr. Quintero disguise his drug operation.
The other co-defendant, her son Kadeem Maynard, said that he could get Mr. Quintero’s plane laden with illicit cash into the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport without a problem.
Additionally, there were multiple inferences that other VI officials were amenable to being bribed to facilitate drug activity.
All these allegations must be thoroughly probed here in the VI.
If law enforcers aren’t already investigating, they must do so forthwith. If they are, they should communicate as much to the public in a way that doesn’t compromise the integrity of their investigations.
Then there’s the British. The role played in the Fahie case by the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency, which has no jurisdiction in the VI, remains murky, and UK officials here and in London have been tight-lipped.
Now that the investigation and trial have concluded, they should explain in detail who knew what — and when. They should also say whether the UK prompted the US to investigate Mr. Fahie in the first place.
However uncomfortable the truth may be, VI residents deserve to know it, especially if the UK truly wants a “modern partnership” with its overseas territories.
It would be unacceptable for the UK and the US to make secret agreements about law enforcement on these shores without the VI’s involvement.
Another victim of the Fahie fiasco was the territory’s financial services industry. Even though the case did not directly involve the sector, which has fought for decades to shake the “tax haven” label, the matter dealt its reputation a heavy blow.
Indeed, the recent mutual evaluation by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force, which reviewed the VI’s systems to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, explicitly mentioned Mr. Fahie’s arrest.
Though VI leaders have been troublingly reluctant to condemn Mr. Fahie’s actions, we were heartened by Premier Dr. Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley’s assurances after the conviction.
The territory, he said, respects the “role of the courts in the administration of justice” and is committed to strengthening its systems and institutions to ensure “good governance at the highest standards of integrity in public life.”
These promises are on target.
As part of carrying them out, Dr. Wheatley and his government must efficiently and completely implement the recommendations of the recent Commission of Inquiry and the CFATF review. Then they should go further.
Mr. Fahie’s trial brought many uncomfortable truths to light. It’s time to reflect and move forward guided by the wisdom of lessons learned.