Investigators tracking visas U.S. diplomat allegedly sold
UNITED States investigators are trying to track down the visas a diplomat based at the U.S. Embassy here allegedly sold for bribes to Guyanese and other foreign nationals here. Officials say it is not known how many visas former U.S. Embassy official Thomas Carroll allegedly sold in a scam with a Guyanese accomplice. Mr Randall Samborn, Public Information Officer for the Assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago, told the Chronicle yesterday that "as part of the continuing investigation, we are trying to follow up on the visas that are suspect and what happened with those (the persons) involved." Officials at a press conference in Chicago Monday could not say what types of people would be willing to pay a bribe to obtain a visa or if any of them remain illegally in the U.S. The State Department and the Immigration and Naturalisation Service are trying to track down those still in the U.S. on the fraudulent visas, one official told reporters. Carroll, 32, well-known to media personnel here, was arrested Friday while visiting his parents in suburban Chicago and charged with collecting bribes in return for handing out U.S. visas. Although he made less than US$50,000 a year in his job at the embassy, investigators seized or froze more than US$1.3M in cash, gold bars and other assets held by him in Chicago-area financial institutions, authorities said. Samborn said the gold bars weigh about 100 ounces each and are worth about US$300,000. Guyanese Halim Khan, 36, described by authorities as a middleman who solicited visa business for Carroll, was also arrested Friday at the Miami airport as he prepared to board a flight to Guyana. U.S. authorities said Khan, also known as `Keith' and `Noel', is from Georgetown but a Police source here said he may be from the West Demerara. Samborn said Khan is being held in Miami until the first week next month when he has a court hearing to be transferred to Chicago. A Chicago native and a State Department foreign service officer for eight years, Carroll has been held in a federal Loop jail since his arrest Friday night outside his parents' home in Palos Hills. He has a detention hearing this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Morton Denlow, Samborn said. The federal probe began last year after two confidential sources told investigators they had been solicited by intermediaries who said they had a contact at the U.S. Embassy willing to sell visas, authorities said. A break in the case came last month when Carroll, routinely shifted to other responsibilities at the embassy, tried to enlist his replacement in the visa post to join in the bribery scheme, authorities said. The undisclosed official tipped off authorities and agreed to work undercover, wearing a concealed recorder to tape numerous conversations with Carroll, according to the charges. Armed with search warrants over the weekend, investigators seized the 10 gold bars and about US$500,000 in cash from Carroll's safe-deposit box at Cole Taylor Bank in suburban Burbank. On Monday, authorities got a court order freezing another US$535,000 in assets held by Carroll or his wife at the same bank, as well as in Merrill Lynch, Fidelity Investments and ScotiaBank accounts. Samborn told the Chronicle the gold bars could have been bought in the U.S. The U.S. Embassy here yesterday said President Bharrat Jagdeo has pledged the Guyana Government's "complete cooperation in the continuing investigation." Details provided by the U.S. Justice Department said Carroll was stationed here for the last two years. He and Khan are charged with conspiracy to sell U.S. visas to Guyanese and other foreign nationals in Guyana. Both were charged in criminal complaints filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago with conspiracy to commit bribery and to commit visa fraud. The complaints allege that both men were conspiring to sell 250 additional U.S. visas in Guyana in exchange for at least US$1M in bribes in US currency. According to law enforcement affidavits attached to the complaints, authorities began investigating the selling of visas in Guyana by Carroll in June 1999. The investigation began after confidential sources told investigators they had been solicited by intermediaries for the purchase of U.S. visas. Khan allegedly was a broker that Carroll used as an intermediary between himself and the purchasers of U.S. visas. From March 1998 to March 1999, Carroll's duties included those of Vice Consul and Chief of the Non-Immigrant Visa Section of the U.S. Embassy here, in which capacity he had sole responsibility for reviewing and adjudicating applications for U.S. visas by Guyanese nationals and other foreign nationals. In March 1999, Carroll was routinely transferred within the U.S. Embassy and became the Economic/Commercial Officer, in which capacity he no longer regularly adjudicated visa applications. The charges said that around February this year, Carroll solicited another employee at the embassy, who is cooperating in the investigation, to approve U.S. visas of designated individuals in exchange for money. The two officials engaged in numerous conversations, many of which were secretly recorded in Guyana and elsewhere concerning the illegal sale of U.S. visas, according to the affidavits. In February and early March of this year, Carroll allegedly told the cooperating witness (CW) that he would pay for approving visas and that when Carroll left Guyana, as he was anticipating, he would introduce the CW to another individual to act as the CW's local contact in Guyana for the sale of visas. According to the charges, between February 25 and 28, 2000, Carroll paid the CW about $40,000 in US currency for approving visas. Carroll also offered to pay the CW US$4,000 for each future visa if the CW granted visas to applicants identified by Carroll. The CW subsequently left Guyana for Miami, where he and Carroll arranged to meet to discuss the sale of U.S. visas, the affidavits said. Carroll and Khan arrived in Miami on March 16, according to the complaints, and after clearing customs, met with the CW at the airport to arrange for the continuation of the visa-selling scheme by the CW in Guyana. At that meeting, Khan and Carroll allegedly asked the CW to approve about 250 visas in exchange for $1 million in US currency. A proposal was made to have the CW return with Khan to Guyana on March 18. After the meeting, Khan remained in Miami, while Carroll and his wife travelled to Chicago on home leave. The affidavits further detail telephone conversation on March 17 between Khan and Carroll, after he arrived in Palos Hills, and between Khan and the CW, who told Khan that he was not going to return with him to Guyana the next day as planned. Carroll subsequently spoke with the CW by phone and told the CW that Khan had been impressed with him and was disappointed that they were not returning together the next day. As a result, according to their discussion, the number of visas that could be sold would be fewer than the 250 that they had discussed. The affidavits also detail statements made by Carroll during the course of the investigation in which he allegedly discussed methods of concealing money removed from Guyana; the high volume of the fraudulent visas he had issued without being detected, in part because he had refused visas to other applicants; and his possession of more than $1 million in currency during his residence in Guyana. The complaints also allege that Carroll, who earned less than US$50,000 a year in salary, made deposits totalling more than US$100,000 in 1999 alone in accounts controlled either by himself, his wife, or jointly. Investigators traced the source of these deposits to negotiable instruments purchased in amounts less than US$3,000 to avoid triggering record-keeping requirements. Among the accounts seized or restrained, some were opened using the Internet rather than in person, and none of them were used for Carroll's salary deposits. State Department Inspector General Williams-Bridgers said: "This case is the result of the excellent cooperation of law enforcement agencies working together." The maximum statutory penalty for conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official and to commit visa fraud is five years in prison and a US$250,000 fine. Visa fraud in this instance carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, a fine of up to three times the amount of the bribes, and disqualification from holding any federal office. The court, however, would determine upon conviction the appropriate sentence to be imposed under the United States Sentencing Guidelines.
Non-immigrant visa applications suspended THE U.S. Embassy here yesterday said its Consular Section will not be accepting applications for non-immigrant visas until further notice. "The only exceptions are cases involving serious emergencies", it said. The embassy said it will continue to process immigrant visa cases normally.
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