Vice President and PPP/C General Secretary Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has called for clarity regarding the recent visit of businessman Nazar Mohamed to the Venezuelan Embassy, stating, “We still want to know why he went there.”
At his weekly press conference on Thursday, Jagdeo expressed frustration over Mohamed’s lack of a direct response to questions surrounding the visit, even after being asked about it in a recent interview with Stabroek News.
“He knows he went there. The entire public wants to know what he was doing there,” Jagdeo said, posing questions about whether Mohamed was seeking campaign support, attempting to flee Guyana, or if his visit had a benign purpose.
Jagdeo pointed out that with current tensions, particularly accusations linking Mohamed to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and reports of Venezuelan generals involved in gold smuggling in Guyana, the public deserves answers. He noted that the Venezuelan Ambassador confirmed that Mohamed visited the embassy in Georgetown and applied for visas, a revelation initially made by Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd two weeks ago.
“They can’t say yes because the next question is why,” Jagdeo remarked, emphasizing the significance of the issue. He also mentioned that there is video evidence of the Mohameds visiting the embassy, labeling the unanswered inquiries as a “national security issue” for Guyana.
In his interview with Stabroek News, Nazar Mohamed refrained from addressing the embassy visit directly, instead accusing the PPP/C of a smear campaign against his son, Azruddin, who recently launched a presidential bid with the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party. “I’m not going to answer that,” he stated.
Jagdeo dismissed this as a deflection, noting that Mohamed avoided providing a clear confirmation or denial regarding the visit. The Mohameds were sanctioned last year by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for alleged corruption and connections to illicit gold trading.
With Guyana and Venezuela embroiled in a border dispute currently under review by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Jagdeo argued that the circumstances surrounding Nazar Mohamed’s unexplained embassy visit raise serious concerns.
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