US Judge Refuses To Lift Travel Ban For Daughters Of Former BVI Premier Andrew Fahie Currently On Drug Charges

A United States judge on May 5 denied a motion to allow the daughters of former British Virgin Islands Premier Andrew Fahie presently on federal drug charges to travel to their homeland for a family funeral.

A motion was filed on Thursday, May 4 to modify the conditions of Fahie’s $1 million bond to allow his daughters — Kedisha and Khadija Fahie — to attend the funeral service of their maternal grandfather Winston Theodore Herbert on May 27 at the Upper Room Victory Church on Tortola.

The unsuccessful motion also asked that the two girls be allowed to spend not more than seven days with their mother.

The former Finance Minister lives with his two daughters in a two-bedroom apartment in Florida. He also wears an ankle monitor and he and his daughters had to surrender their passports as part of the bail agreement. They attend online classes.

In April, the court relaxed Fahie’s bail conditions to allow him to visit a dentist and to travel 45 minutes to his lawyer’s Ft. Lauderdale office no more than three times a week to discuss sensitive matters for his upcoming trial.

The former First Electoral District Representative and chairman of the Virgin Islands Party, was arrested on April 28, 2022 by Drug Enforcement Administration Agents (DEA) at the Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport.

Fahie, along with Ports Authority Director Oleanvine Maynard and her son Kadeem Maynard, are charged with conspiring to import more than five kilos of cocaine into the United States and conspiring to launder $700,000.

The female Maynard was arrested in Florida, while her son was detained in St Thomas, United States Virgin Islands. The Maynards are both still in federation custody awaiting trial.

The former mathematics teacher was first elected as District One representative in 1999 at the age of 28, a seat he has held continuously for 23 years. As a member of the Virgin Islands Party government, he has served as Minister for Health, Education and Welfare from 2000 to 2003 and Minister for Education and Culture from 2007 to 2011.

In 2016, Fahie became leader of the VIP and three years later, on February 25th, 2019, he led his party to victory in the general election, breaking the National Democratic Party’s winning streak. VIP won eight of 13 elected seats in the House of Assembly.

In November 2022, he resigned as chairman of the party and from Virgin Islands politics.