Khan for Chicago court on Tuesday
Halim Khan, the West Demerara spare parts dealer and restaurant owner, who was arrested in Miami on March 17 and charged jointly with US Embassy official, Thomas Carroll, is to appear in a Chicago Court on Tuesday. There he and Carroll, who was Economic Affairs Officer at the embassy, will answer charges of visa fraud, producing false visas and bribery. They face up to five years on the first charge and 15 years on the two other charges if convicted. Khan is said to have been Carroll's local contact and his involvement in the scheme was discovered when he approached Carroll's replacement as head of the Non-Immigrant Visa section of the US embassy at the Miami Airport. The man, who was cooperating with the State Department Inspectorate Division had met Carroll and Khan in Miami and had secretly taped conversations in which they were arranging for him to issue 250 visas for which they would have paid him US$1 million. Khan appeared in a Miami Court on March 23, and he was ordered held without bail. At the hearing he also agreed to his removal to Chicago to answer the charges there. Khan was said to have been the acquaintance of a member of the US Immigration and Naturalization Service and was also reported to have led a number of cultural tours to Canada.
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