Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said minister for overseas territories Amanda Milling will travel to the British Virgin Islands.
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The acting premier of the British Virgin Islands has said he opposes a recommendation that the UK take direct control of the territory after his predecessor appeared in a U.S. court on charges linked to drugs trafficking.
Andrew Fahie was detained in Miami on Thursday over an alleged conspiracy to import a controlled substance and money laundering in an operation led by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
The territory’s director of ports, Oleanvine Maynard, was also arrested.
Assistant U.S. attorney Frederic Shadley asked magistrate judge Jonathan Goodman to keep both Fahie and Maynard in custody prior to their trial.
A bond hearing was set for Wednesday.
The acting premier Natalio Wheatley said he was “very concerned” about the recommendation.
Wheatley said: “What this would mean in real terms is that there would be no more elected representatives who represent the people of the districts and the territory in the House of Assembly where laws are made for our society.
“There also would be no government ministers to advance the public’s priorities or a cabinet to approve policy. All of this authority would be vested in the Governor."
BVI Governor John Rankin confirmed again when announcing details of the COI report today that this was "not an investigation into the BVI's financial services sector" and offered his "continued support for the work of the BVI's Commercial Court, the Financial Services Commission and other regulatory bodies that continue to operate as normal acting in accordance with international regulatory standards and a robust English Common Law framework."
The Governor went on to welcome the BVI's "continued good cooperation with law enforcement agencies in the financial (services) field and the steps being taken with regard to the introduction of publicly accessible beneficial ownership registers." ■
A very active and complex mid-May weather pattern is set to produce numerous areas of severe weather, heavy rain, high winds, and anomalous temperatures through this weekend.