Guyanese diplomat denies involvement in US visa issue with politician
Guyana’s Ambassador to the United States, Samuel Hinds, has denied any involvement in the hiring of an American lobbying firm to aid Nazar ‘Shell’ Mohamed, a famous businessman and political contender, in obtaining a visa to the United States.
“I wish to categorically state that I never contacted or discussed Mr Mohamed’s visa issues with the BGR Group,” Hinds, a former prime minister, said in a statement.
Mohammed, who was recently announced as a candidate for the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) in the June 12 Local Government Elections, has asked a US lobbying firm to investigate why Washington has refused to grant him and members of his family visas to enter the North American country.
He is a well-known businessman who owns and operates numerous multi-million dollar businesses ranging from gold production and export to quarry operations and construction. According to media accounts, he is one of Guyana’s wealthiest persons.
Mohammed, who previously obtained a US visa, has not received a new one in ten years.
Tom Locke, Managing Director of the US-based BGR Group, stated that the Guyanese diplomat had called his organization to assist Mohamed.
When Locke, a former Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) agent, was asked if he was referring to Hinds, he couldn’t say immediately.
The BGR Group stated it has sent a report to the US State Department and the American Embassy in order to demonstrate the fragility of the businessman’s charges of drug trafficking, gun running, gold smuggling, and homicide.
Locke insisted that his client was not guilty of the claims, and that the suspected smuggling of gold to Curacao, as well as probable support of the Lebanese political terrorist group Hezbollah, were addressed in the bigger report that was given to the US government.
Locke, who is presently in Guyana, told the web newspaper News Source that Mohamed wants his name cleared of the various claims leveled against him over the years, which range from money laundering to gold smuggling.
He also stated that Mohamed’s immigration counsel had sent many documents to the US State Department in Washington as a result of the investigations.
“I took this on to give the State Department some additional information, because they did not turn him down for a visa, but they did put it in administrative processing, which means they need more information or they want somebody else to look at it in DC and see if it is okay,” Locke explained.