Jagdeo confirms Azruddin Mohamed never visited Venezuelan embassy

Aug 15, 2025 News

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Kaieteur News – Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday said that the government has evidence of businessman Nazar ‘Shell’ Mohamed visiting the Venezuelan Embassy and not his son, Azruddin Mohamed, who is the presidential candidate of the newly formed We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party.

Speaking at his weekly press conference, Jagdeo sought to respond to questions surrounding the allegations leveled against the Mohameds by Foreign Affairs Minister, Hugh Todd.

In fact, Jagdeo challenged the Mohameds to deny that Nazar Mohamed visited the embassy for a visa. Nazar and Azruddin Mohamed along with their businesses have been sanctioned by the United States government over allegations of tax evasion and gold smuggling.

On Tuesday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hugh Todd disclosed that the Venezuelan Ambassador to Guyana Carlos Amador Perez Silva was summoned to a meeting and during that meeting that he revealed that the Mohameds had visited the embassy.

During an interview conducted by the Department of Public Information (DPI), Todd reminded that Congressman Carlos Gimenez had raised concerns over what he had described as Venezuela’s attempt to influence the internal affairs in Guyana, specifically through the Mohameds.

“I’m encouraged to inform you that only recently we found out that the Mohameds have been frequently visiting the Venezuelan Embassy here in Georgetown. Now, you can recall that we’ve had Congressmen in the United States of America who have been very vocal in connecting the Mohameds to Nicholas Maduro and his regime, particularly as it relates to smuggling and the sanctions that have been placed on Venezuela, gold smuggling that is, and money laundering,” Todd stated.

Since the statement by the government, Azruddin Mohamed, via a statement posted on his Team Mohamed’s Facebook page made it clear that he did not visit the Venezuelan embassy and challenged the government and the embassy to prove he did.

“I never visited the Venezuelan Embassy, nor have I applied for a visa to travel to Venezuela,” Azruddin said.

“This smear campaign is meant to be a distraction from the PPP alleged corruption being exposed making headways on social media,” Mohamed said. He reasoned that the PPP is attempting to divert attention from the truth and suppress the voices exposing their wrongdoing. To this end, the businessman challenged the Venezuelan Embassy to produce the proof.

“Present any record of my entry to the Embassy. Show the Guyanese people a single shred of documentation of me applying for a visa,” Mohamed stated.

However, on Thursday Jagdeo, who is also General Secretary of the ruling People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C), clarified that the evidence referenced by the foreign affairs minister shows that Nazar Mohamed visited the Venezuelan embassy and not the WIN Presidential Candidate. He nonetheless, claimed that this is still cause for alarm.

“His father visits the Venezuelan embassy; he’s a member of this family. Don’t tell me that Azruddin Mohamed doesn’t know about it or the daughter, the active one on social media doesn’t know about it. They all know that he did visit the embassy and they know the purpose of the visit. And so, I am today, you notice they’ve gone silent since that information came out,” Jagdeo told reporters.

Jagdeo believes that Azruddin Mohamed will try to deny that his father visited the embassy but he is willing to put his political career on the line if the younger Mohamed could prove that he (Jagdeo) lied about his father’s interactions with the Venezuelans.

“When Minister Todd spoke about Nazar Mohamed’s visit to the Venezuelan Embassy in Guyana… and he did this on the background of several statements made by local individuals as well as highly placed individuals in the United States government. You would recall just some months ago that several congressmen from the United States of America tweeted or issued statements linking the Mohameds with Venezuela and Maduro,” said Jagdeo.

The vice president continued: “They get briefings that we do not see from their intelligence agencies. And I would not expect any United States congressman to make a statement like that linking the Mohamed directly to Maduro calling them Maduro’s puppet if they did not have information.”

Against this backdrop, he said the government must take the necessary steps, to safeguard Guyana’s sovereignty against external aggression and against anyone who may try to undermine it.

Jagdeo warned that there will be consequences if any person is found committing such acts.

“You would recall the decisions made just recently by the government and explicitly announced by the Chief-of-Staff that we will arrest and charge anyone in Guyana for treason should that person try to undermine our territorial integrity and sovereignty. We’re not joking about this matter,” he emphasized.

“…If there is any link between local people who may work to undermine that sovereignty and territorial integrity. He expressed concern about it,” Jagdeo asserted.

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• Azruddin Mohamed, Government, PPP, sovereignty, territorial integrity, Venezuela, win

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