Labour Minister and current Second District Representative Melvin ‘Mitch’ Turnbull told residents at a Progressive Virgin Islands Movement (PVIM) rally over the weekend of allegations that former Premier Andrew Fahie called into that VIP congress and convinced Flax-Headley to decide to become a candidate after she had expressed reluctance.

Turnbull further alleged at the time that the call to Flax-Headley suggested that Fahie continued to control the reins of the party, and by extension, decisions made by current VIP Chairman and Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley, despite the serious charges Fahie faces in the US.

But Malone, while speaking to Flax-Headley on the VIP Let’s Talk Show earlier this week, described the allegations as merely a ‘family decision’. He then issued a vague assurance that the details will be straightened out at some point.

“It looks as if you’ve made some people mad,” Malone said. “They’re talking all kind of mess about who instructed you and who did this and so forth and I know it was a family decision that you were making and you had to make sure that the people who are closest to you were comfortable with what you’re doing. That is what it was and we’ll have to straighten that out.”

Malone, however, did not deny the allegation that it was the former premier who had called Flax-Headley to convince her to make the critical decision after she was hesitant about becoming a candidate.

Flax-Headley, for her part, did not offer any comment on whether she was contacted by Fahie during the party’s congress or at any other point.

Meanwhile, Fahie is currently awaiting trial in the United States on charges of drug smuggling and money laundering following his shocking arrest at a Miami airport in Florida last year. His trial, along with that of his co-accused, former BVI Ports Authority Managing Director Oleanvine Maynard and her son Kadeem Maynard, is expected to get underway in July, more than a year after the trio’s initial arrest.