US firm clears prominent businessman, family of damning allegations

Following almost a year of investigations, the Berkeley Research Group (BGR Group), which operates out of Washington DC, has cleared popular businessman Nazar “Shell” Mohamed and his family of damning allegations levelled against them.
The Mohameds have, in the past, been accused of engaging in money-laundering, gold-smuggling, murder, extortion, drug-trading and gunrunning, among other serious crimes. These claims have sullied the reputation of businessman Nazar Shell Mohamed, and prevented him and his family from securing U.S. visas.
But BGR Investigator Tom Locke, a global security expert, who retired as acting Assistant Director of the FBI’s Inspection Division on Tuesday, spoke with Guyana Times in a major tell-all of the probe and has declared as unsubstantiated the allegations made against one of Guyana’s leading business moguls.
He said he found that Mohamed was never investigated in connection with any crime, nor had he been arrested or charged with a violation of any sort.

In addition, Locke has been adamant that Mohamed’s businesses must pass certain financial and security checks, which should give credence to his business dealings as being ‘above board’. As such, he cited that the Mohameds have stringent written guidelines they must abide by to do business with companies such as ExxonMobil, Haliburton, Champion X, Stena Drilling, Peterson Energy Logistics, Aronco, and Baker Hughes.
“What I have found is that they are all allegations, and once you look behind the allegations, there is nothing to substantiate any of the allegations. It is amazing that this man, who has done so much for Guyana and the local community, is being subjected to those types of remarks,” Locke declared.
He added that, based on his background and the investigations that he has done over the years, if he had one suspicion about Mohamed, he would not have agreed to take the job.
“In my mind, these allegations are all false, and were made by either his competitors or someone who seeks to get a disadvantage of Mr Mohamed and the business world; but if you look at Mr. Mohamed, he is quite successful on his own,” Locke has said.
He noted that, during the investigation, he reached out to a lot of people, not only from the US Government, but also from other foreign Governments who have done business with Mohamed over the years.
“I have also met with his business associates, all of his family, some of his friends… I have looked at the international database and everything that talked about the adverse media… I got hold of a lot of Police reports, and there was no corruption and no attempt to cover up anything,” Locke has revealed.
Further, he noted that officials of the BGR Group were very interested in speaking with US officials to make sure they get the accurate understanding that the allegations are false.
“We have already advised them of our investigation; advised of some of our findings and so forth; so, we are very much hopeful that Mr. Mohamed gets a visa to visit the United States, so he can continue his business operations,” Locke has said.
He added that Mohamed had travelled to the US for forty years, and there is no indication of a problem, since he has never overstayed his visa and has always abided by all the rules and regulations.
Locke stated that during his investigations, he had little interaction with Mohamed, and pointed out that his report was in no way influenced by the businessman.
“He gave me the full latitude to look any place I wanted to, to talk to whomever I wanted to, and there wasn’t any suggestion by him to influence those investigations in any way,” Locke revealed.
He reiterated that if one were to look at his background, they would find he has never been intimidated or influenced by anyone, and he noted that he is very confident in his ability to investigate, and would never do anything to the persons who can vow for his background and the company with which he is presently employed.
Locke has 32 years of experience working with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). His last posting was as Acting Assistant Director of the FBI’s Inspection Division in Washington DC. He also investigated the bombing of the World Trade Center in 2001, among other global events.
In fact, it was Locke who requested to present some of his team’s findings to the Guyanese media, and let them know there have been some stories over the years that contained some of the allegations which had to be cleared up. One allegation against the prominent businessman was made back in September 2020, when he was accused of buying illegal gold from Venezuela; but this was never proven to be true.
Then, after the gunning down of Ricardo “Paper Shorts” Fagundes in 2021, ex-Police Sergeant Dion Bascom accused the businessman and his son of paying a large bribe to cover up the investigations. But the Regional Security System (RSS), after their investigations, found there was no evidence of corrupt practices or attempts to cover up the probe into the murder of Ricardo Fagundes.
Bascom was arrested at a location where illegal drugs were found during a Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit operation, after which he made two live streams wherein he made further allegations and personal demands.
This veracity of the allegations was further undermined by the fact that Bascom was found to be living in a rented and furnished property in Essequibo belonging to an Essequibo businessman and gold trader. More so, he was employed as a personal security officer for the said Essequibo businessman.
Meanwhile, Locke has commended the Mohameds for their kindness and acts of charity. For the past 20 years, the senior businessman has been involved in philanthropic work, and has assisted thousands of Guyanese from all walks of life. He would often report that only five per cent of his charitable work is being publicised.