Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Jul 22, 2025

Why rush to audit stimulus? Premier suggests collusion

Why rush to audit stimulus? Premier suggests collusion

Premier Andrew Fahie has questioned the apparent ‘rush’ to execute an audit of his government’s COVID-19 stimulus grants, arguing that ulterior motives may have been afoot.

During his appearance before the Commission of Inquiry (COI) yesterday, October 12, the Premier insinuated that the Office of the Auditor General may have conspired with UK Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab.

Raab, who has portfolio responsibility for UK Overseas Territories, had publicly backed former governor Augustus Jaspert’s decision to launch the Inquiry.

The Premier said yesterday that the Auditor General’s report seemed to have been specially prepared for the COI since it was never presented to the Cabinet or the the House of Assembly, as was supposed to be procedurally done.

“What was the rush with the report, Commissioner? I did not know the rush was [that] she was coming to the Commission of Inquiry,” Premier Fahie said.

“[The Auditor General was] trying to do a report in the middle of the worse pandemic in the last 100 years and speeding it up. Nobody understands that acceleration till afterwards now that I realise that we have a report in front of the Commission of Inquiry. It (the report) didn’t come to Cabinet, it didn’t come to the House of Assembly but it come to the Commission of Inquiry. And before that, the same things it is trying to allude to are what Dominic Raab said when he went to the House of Commons. It’s all related. So I have to come here to clear my government’s and my name. We have to clear the people of the Virgin Islands’ name. We ain’t thief no money,” the Premier further said.

My family and I were humiliated and but at risk


At the time, Fahie was being questioned why he was overly critical of the Auditor General’s report which, among other things, said the stimulus programme for farmers and fisherfolk violated procedure and inflated its payments to recipients.

The Premier was asked about this in the context of what the Auditor General would have known at the time of preparing the audit.

“Given how the money was distributed and the lack of transparency and accountability and authority for the payments, don’t you have some sympathy in general with the Auditor General’s report?” Sir Gary asked.

But Premier Fahie in responding by asking if anyone showed any sympathy for him and his family when allegations of corruption were first broached against the government.

“Commissioner, who have sympathy for when this whole inquiry was launched on me, when my wife and my picture end up in front of marijuana and drugs and have the world thinking that the BVI has a Premier that is a drug lord and a drug cartel? Who have sympathy on me?” Premier Fahie asked.

When asked how this could’ve been the responsibility of the Auditor General, the Premier side stepped the question.

Fahie said he was constantly asked about other persons, and insisted that he went through a lot as well.

Premier Fahie also told the commission that he felt that the Foreign Secretary endangered his children and said an apology was in order.

“They put our family at risk and nobody is studying that for us,” Fahie said.

Speaking more on the perceived ‘rush’ to audit his government’s stimulus programme, the Premier said the Auditor General should have waited and ‘cooler heads should have prevailed given the dire circumstances being faced by the territory at the start of the pandemic.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
×