Khan refused bail - pending extradition to Chicago Editorial Stabroek News March 25, 2000 A Miami judge yesterday ordered that 36-year-old auto parts dealer, Halim Khan, be held without bail pending his transfer to Chicago to face charges of conspiring to commit visa fraud, producing false visas and bribery. Khan and his accomplice, 32-year-old US embassy official, Thomas Carroll, are accused of operating the largest US visa-selling operation in the memory of federal investigators. Khan, who hails from West Coast Demerara, and Carroll were arrested on March 17, in Miami and Chicago, respectively. Carroll is due to make another court appearance on April 11, and Randall Samborn of the US Attorney's Office in Chicago told Stabroek News that Khan could appear on that day as well if he had been transferred by then from Miami. Samborn said that at the April 11 appearance, which he described as a pre-trial conference, a trial date could be set. However, he said, it was too far away now to predict when the actual case would be heard. Samborn confirmed that the co-worker threatened by Carroll on Mashramani Day was the cooperating witness who had replaced Carroll as head of the non-immigrant visa section at the US embassy. He said too that Carroll had also threatened other potential witnesses but declined to say whether those potential witnesses included any Guyanese nationals. Khan's connection to Carroll first became known when he met the replacement visa officer at Miami International Airport on March 16, and said he recognized the diplomat from Carroll's description. Carroll had taken the same flight as Khan and joined them about ten minutes later, State Department investigator, Richard Loeffert, testified in response to defence questioning yesterday at Khan's bond hearing. Khan and Carroll asked the cooperating witness (CW) to approve a 250-visa deal, court documents said. Khan and the CW were to fly back to Guyana two days later to get the racket going, while Carroll visited his parents. The CW backed out of the flight after a series of taped phone calls among the three, and the arrests were made. Some US$1.8 million in cash, gold bars and bank deposits controlled by Khan and Carroll were seized by the US authorities. Carroll, an eight-year foreign service veteran had served in Taiwan and mainland China before Guyana and was about to be transferred to South Africa. He was already under investigation when he approached the CW about cutting him in on the deal last month, according to a State Department investigator. Carroll had paid his successor US$40,000 last month for approving visas and offered US$4,000 each for future visas.