The great affray started when Guyana’s executives and tourists began to complain that their visa applications were being held up, and local media reported few times that a visa official was demanding bribes and sex in exchange for visas.
Local media are also claiming the official, whose activities have recently been frozen until the completion of an official investigation, was a close associate of local drug lords who played an integral role in his visa scam.
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The Daily Caller reports that the main suspect of the scandal was identified as Edy Zohar Rodrigues Duran, formerly of Mission, Texas.
Duran was removed from his post at the Guyanese capital of Georgetown in June, just few months before of his scheduled departure date in September, according to Guyanese journalists.
Duran has been “accused of selling visas to many corrupt businessmen [and] drug dealers … for as low as US $15,000,” according to a news report in the Guyana Observer.
“The Feds do not yet have any concrete evidence on money-bribes, but there is sufficient evidence on the sex-for-visa scam.”
Agence France Presse news agency also reported about this case and quoted a Guyanese official as saying Duran “had negotiated to sell visas for as much as $40,000, using a popular restaurant and bar in Georgetown to seal the deals.”
According to the Demerara Waves Online News, Edy Duran was also demanding sex in addition to the $40, 000.
After months of stonewalling and denials, the State Department, which is investigating the matter itself, released a statement on the US Independence Day.
“The Department of State is aware of allegations of improprieties relating to a Consular Officer formerly assigned to Georgetown, Guyana,” the statement read.
“The Department takes all allegations of misconduct by employees seriously. We are reviewing the matter thoroughly. If the allegations are substantiated, we will work with the relevant authorities to hold anyone involved accountable.”
Duran was on his first tour of duty in Georgetown and was formerly a schoolteacher in Texas. Now he is currently in Falls Church, Virginia, USA pending the outcome of the investigation.
Duran would not be the first state Department official caught selling visas from Guyana. In 2000, U.S. consular officer Thomas Carroll sold as many as 800 visas for $10,000 to $15,000 each. Carroll was sentenced to 21 years in prison but that sentence was later reduced.
, The Daily Caller, AFP, Demerara Waves Online New,VOF, Omo Oodua Blog
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