Former Consular Officer Edy Duran was in collusion with local officials to secure genuine Guyana passports for foreign nationals who formed part of his clientele and were willing to pay thousands of US dollars for US visas, sources here say.
The passports, according to the sources were a cover for the scam as it would have raised red flags if dozens of foreigners turned up at the US Embassy in Georgetown and were granted visas while hundreds of Guyanese living here were refused. The ‘visa for sale’ racket based on what Stabroek News was also told targeted locals, including young women of a certain race.
Duran aged 41, who arrived here in 2011, allegedly sold visas for sums ranging from US$15,000 ($3M) to US$40,000 ($8M), and it is believed that he had help from other staff at the embassy, local officials who held high office and wealthy businessmen who
