Gold trader, Nazar ‘Shell’ Mohamed and his son, Azruddin Mohamed yesterday denied the explosive claim in a Reuters special report that they were engaged in gold and drug smuggling.
The elder Mohamed told Stabroek News that the report was false and just a “regurgitating of another article that had been written that had no merit.”
He later issued a statement further explaining his position while stating that they maintain their “challenge to Reuters to produce any information to support that these allegations are of any substance.”
Reuters also disclosed that US government officials repeatedly warned ExxonMobil to avoid doing business with two mining magnates in Guyana, both of whom it said are currently the subject of a US investigation on suspicions of money laundering, drug trafficking, and gold smuggling, according to five people with knowledge of the matter and two intelligence reports seen by the news agency.
“The Texas-based oil giant ignored the advice, which was delivered during meetings in late 2021 and early 2022, and cut a deal to build a US$300 million onshore logistics base with a consortium that included the two Guyanese businessmen, Nazar Mohamed and his son, Azruddin. Exxon announced the contract award in April 2022,” the report stated.
“The Mohameds have close ties with Guyana’s president and some cabinet members, according to one of the U.S. intelligence reports and three sources with knowledge of their relationships. The government controls access to vast and newly discovered oil reserves off the South American nation’s coast. The Mohameds, owners of Mohamed’s Enterprise, had mostly focused on gold mining and foreign currency exchange before expanding into the oil business in recent years and securing the lucrative deal with Exxon,” it added.
According to the report, “U.S. officials are considering imposing sanctions on the Mohameds, according to four of the sources and two additional people familiar with the matter. That could require Exxon to sever its business relationship with any sanctioned individuals or companies.”
‘Evidence’
The local consortium, NRG Holdings Incorporated (NRG), which the Mohameds are part of, and which last year inked a pact with ExxonMobil for a US$300 million shorebase at Vreed-en-Hoop to support the US oil major’s works here, yesterday said that the company treats the report as just allegations.
“NRG Holdings Incorporated (NRG) has noted the allegations made against one of the company’s partners in a Reuters news article. At this stage, these are allegations and will continue to be treated as such until the company has evidence to the contrary,” the company said in a statement through its public relations firm, Perceptions Inc.
For the Mohameds, they believe that the report impugns their characters.
They posited that the article was a regurgitation of another that had been written in 2020.
“A cursory reading of the report reveals that it is a repetition and regurgitation of the now widely accepted discredited Bram Ebus report published on September 14, 2020. The report is premised and riddled with unverified and unsubstantiated assertions that the Mohameds are the subjects of investigations by “…the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Homeland Security, and other US agencies on the suspicion of smuggling Colombian cocaine and illegally mined Venezuelan gold to the United States, Europe, and the Middle East…” and for “…laundering money for drug traffickers and criminals, including sanctioned Russian nationals operating in the region…” The Mohameds reject the purported sources referred to in the defamatory report and the reckless use of sources as the basis of the entire report,” the statement from the father and son who own a number of businesses here said.
“The Mohameds categorically deny that they are the subject of any investigations by any US authorities. In response to a request by Reuters to respond to these baseless allegations, the Mohameds not only specifically denied these allegations but challenged Reuters to produce any evidence to support the allegations made in the report. The article revealed that Reuters failed to do so. The Mohameds repeat and maintain their challenge to Reuters to produce any information to support that these allegations are of any substance. The Mohameds are surprised and astonished that such a seemingly reputable international news agency would publish such allegations that are devoid of any substance. It is disappointing that Reuters would permit itself to be the tool of misinformation and an agent of the detractors of the Mohameds’,” it added.
‘Legitimacy and integrity’
According to the duo, they consider the report, “a most vile diabolical sloppy hatchet job, published with the primary intention to create the appearance that the Mohameds are in a position of conflict with the US law enforcement agencies. The tone, tenor, and content of the report clearly aim to lower the Mohameds’ estimation in the eyes of Guyanese, the international community, and to destroy their business relations, integrity, and credentials.
In conclusion, we remain fully committed to upholding the law and conducting our business operations with the highest standards of legitimacy and integrity.”
The Reuters special report will pose a major problem for the image of the Guyana Government and the business operations of ExxonMobil and its local partners.
The Stabroek News tried unsuccessfully to reach out to the Attorney General and other top officials of government.
The names of Mohamed and his son have popped up over the years in various controversies including one last year where it had been alleged that they were involved in the cover-up of the gunning down of a man on Main Street outside of Palm Court, a popular bar on Main Street in Georgetown.
Declaring that he was not involved in any “scampish’ business,” ‘Shell’ Mohamed told Stabroek News in April this year that he had secured the services of a Washington DC public relations and lobbying firm, Barbour Griffith & Rogers [BGR], to investigate why he had been blocked for more than a decade from securing a US non-immigrant visa.
Mohamed, who was then preparing to make another non-immigrant visa petition to the United States embassy here, insisted that his character was beyond reproach.
Lead investigator and retired Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Acting Assistant Director of its Inspection Division, Tom Locke, said that at the behest of Mohamed, a report was submitted to the US State Department and the US Embassy in Guyana, and Locke said he believes that Mohamed will get his visa back.
“The purpose of the investigation was to assist Mr Mohamed with his visa (application process). He had applied for a US visa and was put into what they call Administrative Processing, which means that there were some things that they were waiting for more information on. And as you may be aware, there have been a number of allegations made against Mr. Mohamed over the years. And I was hired to take a look at those allegations and bring forth any of the evidence for or against them,” Locke told Stabroek News in an interview.
“I told Mr Mohamed; I said, look, you know, I’m fine with doing this investigation, I said, but if I come up with something that I find troubling, I’m going to have to report it as I see it. And he agreed and so I did the investigation, and this is the result of it. And what we’re hoping is that the US State Department will take a look at this information that would satisfy them, so that he can get a visa and come the United States. [Before] he had been coming to the United States… he hasn’t applied for a visa since then. He’s never been turned down for a visa. And certainly, when he had a visa, he obeyed all the rules, came and went as he was supposed to. He never overstayed his visa or anything like that. And… I found him to be very much a rule follower,” Locke added.
But the 70-year-old Mohamed told Stabroek News that hiring the public relations and lobbying firm was not only about obtaining his visa, but to also show the public that he has nothing to hide, having come from humble beginnings and legitimately building his business through currency trading, real estate, gold mining, and trading. He said that after decades of hard work, he could not no longer sit aside and have his competitors bring his character into disrepute in his old age, having noticed that the rumours surrounding his businesses had begun escalating. Mohamed related that for over 50 years, he has worked tirelessly. “I worked very hard. I started suitcase trading… building from that I went into business and bought one place then another… then into currency trading, gold mining and buying…,” he said while emphasising that while people now see the wealth he created, many are not aware of the hard labour he put in to build his companies to what they are today.
“My work is legitimate. I never was involved in drug dealings, robbed anybody, gold smuggling and any ‘scampish’ business,” he added while pointing out that from feedback received, it seemed that particular business competitors were targeting him and had set upon “a poison pen” path to shame him. He informed that he had been travelling to the United States before the terror attacks of 9/11 and after. When his visa expired, he applied again and was told of the administrative processing. He surmised that after the attacks, visa restrictions got tougher for Muslims so he had to allow for the due diligence process and did not press the issue. That twice within the last 10 years he got the same response from the US embassy that his visa was under administrative processing left him perplexed. And coupled with rumours here that he could not travel because he was blacklisted and wanting to travel now that he has more leisure time, he said he began researching how the visa issue could be addressed.
Mohamed disclosed that he researched companies that could help and hired an immigration lawyer who is currently looking at his case.
