Declaring that he has no apology to make for the Government’s hiring of a U.S lobbying firm, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo today confirmed that the tweets about Presidential Candidate Azruddin Mohamed having ties to Venezuela indeed came from the firm hired by the Government.

However, he denied that the Government supplied the information for those “draft tweets” that was eventually sent out by a US Congressman.

According to the Vice President, the lobbying firm was hired by the Government of Guyana to address issues relating to the border controversy and threats by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Mr. Jagdeo told a news conference that if the firm went beyond that scope to tie Azruddin Mohamed to Venezuela, then there must be information in the firm’s possession based on investigations.

He made reference to a 2023 Reuters news agency report which tied a local businessman to Venezuela and being involved in the smuggling of Venezuelan gold through Guyana. Jagdeo said the dots need to be connected.

“A lobbyist can tell them anything, but the lobbyist has info too, and a lobbyist can tell you anything because that is lawful in the U.S, they file it and it is open. So, the reason they did that is because they know it was filed not that APNU or the Mohameds discover this, it is in public document, they file what they sent to the Congressmen, and they file all of these suggestive tweets,” Jagdeo said.

The Vice President said even without the services of lobbying firm, the US officials who made tweets tying Mohamed to Venezuelan, had to have known what they are talking about.

He told reporters that once the Congressional officials said there is a connection between Venezuela and the Mohameds, then he believes that connection indeed exists.

“We don’t tell the lobbyist what to do on a daily basis, no one in government told them to go after the Mohameds, we can do that ourselves like we have been doing, but trust me when Reuters made these allegations, they said it’s a lie and that the sanctions came as a result of gold smuggling. What about the two other allegations about cocaine smuggling and laundering money for Russian mafia,” Jagdeo questioned.

Jagdeo said if the Government has to hire more lobbyists to keep the country safe, it will do so unapologetically.

“But there was nobody from the Government who told them to do this, but these people work, and their job is to keep the US government briefed on any threat to us from the Maduro angle or the border and we will pay 10 lobbyists, if possible, to keep our country safe,” Jagdeo told reporters.

The lobbying firm in its filings with the US Justice Department stated that it was sharing the “draft tweets” and other information with the US Congressional Officials on behalf of the Guyana Government.

Sanctioned businessman and Presidential Candidate, Azruddin Mohamed and his political party have accused the Government of using taxpayers money and the resources of the state to launch a political fight against him using specific US congressional officials through the lobby firm.

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