While brushing aside reports of the President and the PPP’s closeness to the Mohameds family, that is reportedly under investigation for gold and drug smuggling by the US Authorities, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has revealed that the Government of Guyana discontinued the use of a US lobbying firm after it found out that the Mohameds family had hired the same firm.
A special investigation report by the international Reuters news agency has quoted sources which have indicated that sanctions could be instituted against the members of the Mohameds family and their companies.
The same report revealed that the US government had repeatedly warned the ExxonMobil company against doing business with the Mohameds. Exxon apparently ignored those warnings, as the Mohameds group is among one of the major investors in the gas to shore energy project.
At a press conference on Thursday at the PPP headquarters, Vice President and party General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo said the Government made a decision sometime back to discontinue the use of a US lobbying firm, after it found out that the Mohameds group was also a customer.
“When we discovered that the Mohameds were using the same lobbying firm that we were using, Elizabeth Harper, the Permanent Secretary met with them (lobbying firm) and said to them that we are disengaging from you. We disengaged from that firm, because they didn’t tell us that the Mohameds had contracted them to do lobbying work for them”, Jagdeo told reporters.
He objected to the Reuters news article indicating that close links exist between the President and the Mohameds family and company. Vice President Jagdeo said that was done to lift the profile of the investigative article.
But just after being elected President, the security vehicles that were used by President Ali were vehicles that belonged to the Mohameds company.
And while the Vice President appeared to be distancing his party from the Mohameds family and company, at the recent Local Government elections, the head of the Mohameds company, Nazar Mohamed, competed and won his seat in the elections for the Eccles NDC as a candidate of the PPP.
With reports carried by Reuters that the US Treasury Department could institute sanctions against the Mohameds family, forcing Exxon to discontinue business with the family on the major gas to shore project, Mr. Jagdeo said the Government will be focused on the interests of the country.
He said “if the US were to impose sanctions, then the Government would have to assess how it deals with those sanctions. And of course, take steps to protect the interests of Guyana. That’s our primary concern, we protect, we were elected to, and this party our party, will always protect the interest of our country”.
The Mohameds family which owns Mohameds Enterprises, one of the largest business groups in Guyana, has rejected a special report by the Reuters news agency, linking the company and its principles to gold smuggling and drug trafficking.
In an explosive report released recently, the Reuters agency reported that the United States is probing the Mohameds company, which serves as a contractor for ExxonMobil, for gold smuggling and drug trafficking.
In a statement issued hours later after the report was published, the Mohameds company described the report as defamatory of the character and reputation of the company’s owner, Nazar Mohamed and his son Azruddin Mohamed.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login