Nazar “Shell” Mohamed deflected, failed to answer whether or not he visited Venezuelan Embassy – Jagdeo 

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, has called out United States-sanctioned businessman, Nazar “Shell” Mohamed, for failing to confirm whether or not he visited the Venezuelan Embassy in Georgetown to obtain a visa.

“Nazar Mohamed did not answer the yes-or-no question of whether he visited the Venezuelan Embassy,” Jagdeo said in a statement today.

Nazar and his son, Azruddin Mohamed, who has founded the We Invest In Nationhood (WIN) party and is contesting the September 1 elections as the presidential candidate, have been sanctioned along with several of their businesses by the US over gold smuggling and public corruption.

Last week, Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Hugh Todd had expressed concerns over “the Mohameds” frequent visits to the Venezuelan Embassy in Georgetown. Todd said he subsequently summoned the Venezuela’s Ambassador to Guyana, Carlos Amador Perez Silva, to a meeting on the issue, and the diplomat indicated that “the Mohameds visited the embassy to apply for visas to go to Venezuela, specifically Caracas” – something which the minister said is alarming in light of recent concerns raised by at least two US Congress members over what they had described as Venezuela’s attempt to influence internal affairs in Guyana, specifically through Mohamed.

While Azruddin Mohamed had initially denied the claim, Jagdeo, who is also Guyana’s current Vice President, said at a press conference on Thursday last that there is video evidence of Nazar Mohamed going to the embassy. He even challenged the Mohameds to prove his statements wrong.

In an article published by the Stabroek News today, however, Nazar Mohamed refused to answer whether he did visit the Venezuelan embassy here and was quoted as saying, “the allegations are just so totally foolish and absurd.” He also claimed that they were made to paint his son in a bad light.

But in response, Jagdeo said instead of clearing the air on whether or not he visited the embassy to get a Venezuelan visa, the senior Mohamed “…engaged in semantics and deflection by shifting focus to what he described as a political smear campaign against his son. He frames the issue as allegations, as a tactic, by the PPP/C to discredit Azruddin Mohamed and his We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) movement, but gave no direct confirmation or denial about his visit to the Venezuelan Embassy.”

According to Jagdeo, “In fact he goes as far telling the Stabroek News: “I’m not going to answer that.” So, to put it plainly: He did not say yes or no; he avoided the question. He does not address the factual question of whether he himself visited the Venezuelan Embassy.”

Meanwhile, in light of reports linking the Mohameds to Venezuela’s Nicholas Maduro’s regime and the ongoing border controversy between Guyana and Venezuela, Jagdeo told reporters at his press conference last Thursday that the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) will move to thoroughly investigate and question both Azruddin and Nazar Mohamed after the upcoming elections on these allegations.