Guyanese in visa scam due in court today
THE Guyanese suspected to be a key middleman in the massive visa bribery scam uncovered at the United States Embassy in Georgetown, is due in a Chicago court today. Federal marshals transferred Halim Khan from Miami to Chicago last week. Mr Randall Samborn, Public Information Officer for the Assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago, told the Chronicle that Khan is due for a bond (bail) hearing today. Thomas Carroll, the former senior official accused of running the visa bribery racket at the embassy here, did not appear for a court hearing in Chicago yesterday as scheduled, Samborn said. The hearing for Carroll has been rescheduled to May 12 when Khan is also likely to be formally charged in the case. Khan, a restaurant owner from the West Demerara, was held by U.S. investigators in Miami last month as he was about to fly to Guyana. He was refused bail in a Miami court and ordered shipped to Chicago to face charges. Sources here said his name had surfaced in investigations into other visa scams but he was never charged before. President Bharrat Jagdeo told a press conference here last month that U.S. Ambassador James Mack has indicated that American investigators would need support from the Guyana Government. Mr Jagdeo said he told Mack the government was available at any time to offer support in any form for the investigations. Several Guyanese employees of the embassy here have been dismissed since the scam was uncovered. A federal magistrate in Chicago ordered Carroll held without bond on bribery charges after prosecutors contended he posed a threat to government witnesses and their families if he was released. Prosecutors say he threatened a co-worker from the Georgetown embassy on Mashramani Day (Republic Day) last month. The prosecutors played tape-recordings in court they say show Carroll threatening violence against the co-worker at the embassy if the alleged fraud scheme was exposed. Carroll, 32, was arrested last month while visiting his parents in suburban Chicago. Khan, 36, was described by investigators as a middleman who solicited visa business for Carroll and is also known as `Keith' and `Noel'. Carroll, in charge of issuing visas at the U.S. Embassy in Georgetown for a year, has been formally charged with conspiracy to commit visa fraud; producing false visas and bribery. The embassy co-worker he reportedly threatened on Mash Day was actually cooperating with authorities and secretly recording his conversations with Carroll, the Chicago Tribune newspaper said. It said that Richard Pilger, a Justice Department lawyer, also alleged that Carroll personally participated in violence against Guyanese nationals who threatened to expose the fraud scheme and had at least two corrupt Guyanese policemen assisting him. One person who sparked Carroll's anger had his house raided by four people and his property destroyed and was forced to flee, Pilger said. Authorities have seized about US$1.8M in cash and gold bars from safe-deposit boxes and other investment accounts of Carroll's. U.S. investigators are also trying to track down the visas Carroll allegedly sold for bribes to Guyanese and other foreign nationals here. Officials say it is not known how many visas the former U.S. Embassy official allegedly sold in the scam with Khan. The State Department and the Immigration and Naturalisation Service are trying to track down those still in the U.S. on the fraudulent visas. As a result of the case, the U.S. Embassy here has suspended issuing non-immigrant visas unless in special emergency cases. Details provided by the U.S. Justice Department said Carroll was stationed here for the last two years. The complaints allege that he and Khan were conspiring to sell 250 additional U.S. visas in Guyana in exchange for at least US$1M in bribes in US currency.
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