Second local businessman questioned
A second local businessman is helping federal authorities in the United States of America with their investigations into the visa scam at the US Embassy in Georgetown. A former Economic Affairs Officer at the US embassy, Thomas Carroll and West Demerara businessman, Halim Khan, were implicated in the scheme. They are before a US federal court in Chicago, Illinois, facing charges of conspiring to commit visa fraud, producing false visas and bribery. The two were arrested on March 17: Carroll in Chicago and Khan in Miami as he was about to board a flight back to Guyana. Informed sources have told Stabroek News that the businessman involved was held recently in the US and was assisting the authorities there. The businessman was previously charged locally in a gold-related case but it was dismissed for lack of evidence. Among the items seized by the federal authorities when Carroll was arrested were gold bars which were stored in a safety deposit box. A former member of the Embassy's local staff, Eton Cordis, was charged last month with corruptly receiving $600,000 as an inducement for securing a visa for a member of the public. The offence is alleged to have taken place in July 1998 in Georgetown. He was one of several local staffers at the embassy who were fired in the wake of the visa scam being uncovered. Also, Cordis was among a number of persons questioned locally by a special police unit headed by a Special Branch officer which was set up to ascertain the extent of any local involvement. These persons were also questioned by US federal officers who were in Guyana to look into the visa fraud. Local officers also travelled to the US as part of their investigation.
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