Business Crime 2019: BVI

1 General Criminal Law Enforcement

1.1 What authorities can prosecute business crimes, and are there different enforcement authorities at the national and regional levels?

There is no bar on private prosecutions for the vast majority of criminal offences; therefore, in theory, any authority or private party may prosecute. Section 59 of the Virgin Islands Constitution provides that the Director of Public Prosecutions ("DPP") shall have power, in any case in which he or she considers it desirable to do so, to take over and continue any criminal proceedings that have been instituted by any other person or authority, and is ultimately responsible for criminal prosecutions across the Territory. In practice, the DPP and Crown counsel prosecute offences in the BVI as opposed to any other authorities, albeit they are assisted by agencies such as the Financial Investigation Agency ("FIA") and the Financial Services Commission ("FSC").