Army, Police will probe Mohamed family’s Venezuela link after elections – Jagdeo

…says “this is our territorial integrity and sovereignty at stake”

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), Bharrat Jagdeo, said the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) will move to thoroughly investigate and question businessmen Azruddin and Nazar Mohamed after the September 1 General and Regional Elections. He stressed that the choice to wait until after voting day is intended to prevent the process from being politicised or used as a distraction in the closing weeks of the campaign.
At his weekly press conference on Thursday, Jagdeo argued that state agencies should “put things on pause until after the elections and then thoroughly investigate these claims,” adding that if investigators “find them credible, they charge.”

He linked the timing to national sensitivities, noting, “This is our territorial integrity and sovereignty at stake.” According to Jagdeo, there is “evidence” that Nazar Mohamed visited the Venezuelan Embassy in Georgetown, and, he alleged, the visits were not a one-off occurrence. “Why would people want to go for a Venezuelan visa at this time?” he asked, calling on the family to publicly deny the visit or explain its purpose.
Jagdeo’s remarks follow comments by Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Hugh Todd, who said he had summoned Venezuelan Ambassador Carlos Amador Perez Silva and was told that members of the Mohamed family had applied for visas.
Todd said the government views the development as troubling amid elections and heightened tensions with Venezuela, framing it as a potential sovereignty and election-interference concern that Guyana must treat “with grave concern”.
The controversy has grown since United States (US) Congress members Carlos Gimenez and María Elvira Salazar described Azruddin Mohamed as “Maduro’s puppet” earlier this year, an accusation the businessman, who is sanctioned by the US and now leads the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party, has denied and has also denied visiting the Venezuelan Embassy or seeking a Venezuelan visa.

“A family enterprise”
Jagdeo, however, maintained that the issue involves “a family enterprise”, insisting that public clarifications are warranted given the allegations and the sensitive geopolitical climate.
“If you’re so quick with the denial about Azruddin, why not now publish the denial today and post it on Team Mohamed that it’s not true, Nazar Mohamed never went to the embassy, and it’s another PPP lie. Or alternatively, say yes, he went there, but he went there to take a vacation, to get a visa to have a vacation in Venezuela, of all places. So that’s why I’m saying, I’m giving them a chance now to deny this too, and this is a family enterprise,” he challenged the Mohamed family.
“So let them issue the denial that Nazar Mohamed never went there, or if he did go, tell us what he went there for, given that the United States senators said that the Mohameds are Maduro’s puppets and that they work closely with them. And now we’re hearing through some of these leaked things that there may have been generals, Venezuelan generals who were involved with smuggling sanctioned gold through Guyana. That’s an even further link that is very dangerous now,” he said.

”Prove me a liar”
The General Secretary went as far as to challenge the Mohameds to prove him wrong, maintaining that there is evidence that Nazar visited the Venezuelan Embassy.
“Prove me a liar now,” Jagdeo said. “I am willing to stake my entire political career on the fact that he did go to the Venezuelan Embassy,” he added.
Jagdeo also reminded of the controversial visit of Mohamed to Barbados, in what has since been widely speculated as a meeting with US prosecutors.
“They claimed they were in Barbados for a vacation; every single Guyanese knows differently,” Jagdeo said.
He contended that intelligence suggests that the meeting with the prosecutors was to attempt to work out a plea bargain. However, according to Jagdeo, the meeting did not go well.
“Since then, they have been looking for an exit strategy,” he said.
This is why, just weeks before the upcoming national elections in Guyana, at least one family member has visited the Venezuelan Embassy, Jagdeo suggested.
“They all know that he [Nazar] did visit the embassy, and they know the purpose of the visit,” Jagdeo noted, reminding that there is no extradition treaty between Venezuela and the US.
President Irfaan Ali had previously explained that the US-sanctioned businessman is a risk and a threat to Guyana’s financial stability, sovereignty and diplomacy.
At least three local banks have cancelled the personal accounts of individuals on the candidates lists of WIN. Meanwhile, in addition to the US sanctions for smuggling 10,000 kilograms (kg) of gold and avoiding the payment of more than US$50 million in duty taxes, Mohamed is charged locally with tax evasion for amounts totalling some $900 million.