By: Staff Writer
May 3, 2022
The British Virgin Islands (BVI) Premier locked up in Miami on drug trafficking charges is invoking “diplomatic immunity” recently revealed court documents show.
Andrew Fahie, who was arrested in the Miami airport along with two other individuals, one of whom is the port director for the British protectorate, Oleanvine Maynard, in recently filed court documents said that the United States Executive Branch of government, i.e., the President of the US knows he is the duly elected head of state for the BVI and that as a result he is “entitled” to “immediate and unconditional release” from being detained in the US.
Diplomatic immunity is a principle of international law that provides foreign diplomats with a degree of protection from criminal or civil prosecution under the laws of the countries hosting them.
As Caribbean Magazine Plus understands that Mr Fahie is so entitled to immunity from prosecution in a foreign country. Under international customary law, serving heads of state, heads of government and foreign affairs ministers enjoy total immunity from foreign criminal prosecution, for acts performed privately or officially, before or during their term of office.
The US State Department may ask the foreign government, in this case the UK, to “voluntarily waive” Mr Fahie’s immunity considering the seriousness of the allegations which most countries typically agree to but only if and when their representative has been charged with a serious crime not connected to their diplomatic duties, or has been subpoenaed to testify as a witness to a serious crime.
However disturbing the allegations against Mr Fahie is, the law is the law and he is entitled to its protection like any other foreign head of state in the US. If it was found he was in the process of official duties, or his lawyers argue that he was on official business in the US then he is entitled to immunity as would any foreign leader.
Considering that Mr Fahie is also under scrutiny in the BVI having a Commission of Inquiry called on his government, it is uncertain if the UK government would waive his rights to diplomatic immunity despite BVI Governor General Sir Gary Hickinbottom stating to the media that his drug arrest in Miami is “not linked” to the current Commission of Inquiry.
As for the other persons Oleanvine Maynard and Kadeem Stephan Maynard aka “Blacka,” is another story to itself as they do not have that immunity.
The allegations on drug trafficking and money laundering stem from a drug deal struck with an undercover agent of the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to collect US$7.8 million dollars (EC$21.8 million) on every shipment of 3,000 kilos of cocaine that he would have allegedly permitted to safely pass through the British overseas territory.
In this case, the agent posed as a member of the Sinaloa Cartel, which was looking to move cocaine worth millions of dollars to Miami and then to a more lucrative market in New York.
Court documents filed in Miami, including the affidavit of the DEA agent who negotiated with the BVI Premier, showed arrangements that would have granted containers of drugs safe passage into Puerto Rico and to the US mainland.
According to the court papers, the cocaine would be sold at between US$26,000 to US$28,000 a kilo in Miami and at the higher price of US$32,000 to US$38,000 a kilo in the larger and more lucrative market of New York.
Mr Fahie was charged with conspiring to import cocaine into the United States, as well as money laundering related to this operation, which started on October 16, 2021.
Mr Fahie had also requested money from the undercover DEA agent to make a payment to someone in Senegal who had “fixed” a political problem for him.