[Isobel] Guyana is one
of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
[Isobel] But these deals have come
with claims of corruption.
speaking Chinese
Do you accept bribes?
No, I don't.
When reporters come from abroad,
they always want to make a developing-country leader
look corrupt.
[Alzo] Interest in Moorish nationalism continues to grow.
They say that they have ancestral rights
to the land here.
Moorish Americans don't do those kind of things,
and it's written in our laws.
[Alzo] Moorish nationals don't believe
they were ever citizens to begin with.
If the rules are wrong in the first place,
is it okay to break them?
What is it exactly that you all want?
Freedom.
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[shouting]
tense music
-[Isobel] speaking Chinese -[person] speaking Chinese
[person] speaking Chinese
-[person] speaking Chinese -[person] speaking Chinese
[Isobel] speaking Chinese
[person] speaking Chinese
[Isobel] We're undercover with business elites
at a country retreat in Guyana,
one of the smallest countries in South America.
speaking Chinese
[chuckles]
speaking Chinese
[Isobel] Mm.
speaking Chinese
[Isobel] This is one of many times we've been told directly
how corruption is rife here.
We've been here for weeks,
infiltrating business networks
with links to China.
The world's second-biggest superpower
has a rapidly growing presence in Guyana.
Much of that comes through infrastructure projects,
as China becomes the world's largest funder of development.
Guyana is one of nearly 150 countries in the world
to be part of the Belt and Road Initiative--
a massive infrastructure push by China
to bring development funding and soft-power influence
around the globe.
But as China expands into South America,
the U.S. sees their growing presence as a threat.
This is a region where America has long held
political and regional dominance.
[Biden] China has an overall goal
to become the wealthiest country in the world
and the most powerful country in the world.
That's not gonna happen on my watch.
[Isobel] As for Guyana,
they're just trying to keep both superpowers happy,
and China has been a willing partner
in funding the country's growing economy.
See, even out in this very, very remote area,
you can see the Chinese influence.
This is where they're building
a massive hydroelectric power plant
with a Chinese state-backed corporation.
There's just one that's been able to pick up that project,
and that deal is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
And what we've heard is that
the only reason they won that project
is because of a very sizable bribe.
dramatic music
China's widespread infrastructure spending
has come with claims of corruption.
In Guyana, there's a fear that pattern will repeat.
The country recently fell on a global corruption index,
meaning its citizens see it as getting more corrupt.
Add on a massive discovery of oil
and foreign money pouring into the country,
the potential for more fraud has skyrocketed.
To find out whether the highest levels
of Guyana's government are involved in corrupt deals,
we went undercover.
My colleague, who we'll call Mr. Chan,
posed as a Chinee businessman looking to invest in Guyana.
I posed as his secretary.
Arguably, the most powerful politician in the country
is the vice president, Bharrat Jagdeo.
He spent 12 years as president
and still pulls huge political weight.
We're told the person who can get us in a room with him
is a man named Su Zhi Rong.
speaking Chinese
[man] speaking Chinese
[Isobel] Mr. Su is a longtime Guyana resident.
He's one of the country's biggest landholders
in timber and mining,
with stakes in oil as well.
[man] speaking Chinese
[man 2] speaking Chinese
[Isobel] Su openly bragged about his influence
with the vice president,
who owns the house that Su lives in
and who he refers to as his boss,
and he says he can help us in Guyana for the right price.
speaking Chinese
[Mr. Chan] speaking Chinese
speaking Chinese
[Isobel] Su says the money we pay him
under the guise of legitimate business
will actually make it to the vice president.
And Su's not the only person to tell us
that the service fees these middlemen take
are bribes for big deals.
[Mr. Chan and man] speaking Chinese
[Isobel] This is a general manager
of China's largest state-run construction firm.
[man] speaking Chinese
[Isobel] It's companies like his,
linked directly to the Chinese Communist Party,
who win a lot of Guyana's largest contracts.
This guy works for one
of the biggest state-run organizations,
and the way that they're seeming to do business here
is also very much under the table.
It does imply very much
that the Beijing authorities know exactly what's going on.
Later, Su showed us evidence
of his own involvement in multimillion-dollar deals
brokered between Guyana's government
and a large Chinese state-run corporation,
including a contract for his work
as an agent on a big road project
and letters sent from the government
about the same hydro power plant
we flew over in the rain forest.
For our deal, Mr. Su painted
a wide range of investment opportunities--
logging rights in the rain forest,
a stone quarry, gold mining,
and, the most promising of all,
land in a prime location,
where a hotel and casino could be built
to cash in on the oil boom.
We agreed that would be the deal.
[Mr. Chan] speaking Chinese
[Su] speaking Chinese
[Isobel] To confirm his access to those at the very top,
Su took our colleague, Mr. Chan,
over to his neighbor,
none other than the vice president.
[Mr. Chan] Thank you so much for seeing me.
[Jagdeo] Yeah, please have a seat.
[Isobel] Jagdeo avoided talking specifics
but told us how close he is to Su.
[Mr. Chan] I understand.
[Mr. Chan] I know.
[Isobel] Su interjected, telling us
this wasn't the place to talk about the bribe.
[Su] speaking Chinese
I know. I know.
[Mr. Chan] speaking Chinese
[Su] speaking Chinese
-[Mr. Chan] Okay. -[Jagdeo] Thank you, Mr. Chan.
[Mr. Chan] Thank you so much for giving me your time.
-[Jagdeo] Great. -[Mr. Chan] I hope
-I can see you again. -[Jagdeo] Yes, definitely.
[Mr. Chan] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[Su] speaking Chinese
[Isobel] Personal profit isn't the only thing at stake here.
The U.S. has criticized Chinese funding as coercive,
coming with strings attached.
And last year that seemed to ring true
when Guyana made a political decision
that many saw as a direct result of pressure from China.
The island of Taiwan, which China claims is its own,
announced it was opening a trade office in Guyana.
The U.S. applauded the move,
but only hours later,
Guyana pulled out of the agreement.
One of our business associates
who has close ties to the Chinese embassy
told us that the reason Guyana pulled out
was because of Chinese funding.
[man] speaking Chinese
[laughter]
[Isobel] It wasn't until months after our conversation
that news of the $1.5 billion became public,
suggesting that our contact did have inside knowledge
about what went down.
When reached by phone recently,
he said he did not remember ever saying this.
Vice President Jagdeo said no loan was made
and that China had never pressured them
over Taiwan or any other issue.
No financing from anybody
comes with political strings.
[Isobel] A few months later,
we confronted the vice president
about whether the massive influx of foreign investment
is plagued by corruption
and if he himself has a part to play in that.
You know, Guyana has attracted
a lot of foreign investment recently.
What is it that Guyana has to offer?
The opportunity to make money.
That is why people are coming here,
so that's what I'm going to say.
[laughter]
I mean, this year Guyana dropped two points
on the Transparency International's
Corruption Perception Index,
which puts it among the most corrupt in the region.
Do you accept that within this government
and within this country, there is a problem with corruption?
First of all, I have a problem with the embassies,
but we do have real corruption in countries like ours, too.
This is like a Blackness index.
The darker you are, the lower you are on the index.
What about within your government?
Do you accept bribes?
No, I don't.
We've spoken to a number
of Chinese businesspeople in Guyana
who said that you do accept bribes
and have said that, in fact,
it's the only way to get business done.
Yeah, well, I can't comment on that.
You can just sit there and fabricate that.
Okay, well, let's talk about specific individuals.
What is your relationship with Mr. Su Zhi Rong?
Oh, Su...
Oh, Su?
My relationship? Nothing.
He is...he's a tenant in my place, yeah.
And he's a good friend of yours?
Yes. Um, yes.
Yes, he is a friend of ours.
He claims that through his very close relationship with you
that he's able to get any deal done.
Well, I don't-I don't--
Do you use middlemen like Su
in order to take money on your behalf
so that you can keep your hands clean?
No. The answer is no.
We met with a manager from a Chinese state-run corporation
who confirmed that they use individuals like Su
in order to get these deals done
and that they pay them a consulting fee,
which essentially serves as a bribe
to individuals like you.
I mean, what would you say to that?
Well, I don't know, because, again, that's all...
You're building everything on what you met
and what people told you.
I don't know.
I can't comment on some anonymous manager
now telling you something.
I mean, these are individuals
who have significant business interest in this country.
-Why do you think? Yes-- -[Isobel] So I'm just wondering
that if so many people are telling us one thing
about, you know, this is the way that deals get done,
I'm wondering what your take is.
When reporters come from abroad,
this is their "catch you" kind of thing.
You always want to make a developing-country leader
look corrupt, so you've done your bit.
Will you investigate, at least, you know, these claims?
No, no, no, definitely I'm gonna ask about all of this,
but I can't comment reasonably.
How can I comment on these issues?
[Isobel] A few days after meeting with us,
Jagdeo released our interview to the press,
seemingly to get ahead
of the onslaught of public reactions.
I heard that the reporter
had certain special interests.
[Isobel] The Chinese state-run firms mentioned in this piece
didn't respond to our questions,
but the Chinese embassy released a statement
saying that all Chinese companies operating in Guyana
follow local laws and international practices.
Mr. Su also claimed he'd never said these things
and released a statement saying that
he's never acted on behalf of any government official
or promised any favor or business-related reward.
[Norton] Let there be investigated,
and that and only that
will remove the suspicion and allegations.
[Isobel] Months later, no investigations
appear to have taken place,
and the people of Guyana are still left with questions
about who gets to buy their country and for what price.
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[Shanetta] The thing I like about this neighborhood
is every single house seems to have
its own little bit of charm.
Just being a single woman
trying to compete with a lot of these couples,
I lost out on about 13 houses before I came across this one.
When I walked in the door,
I was like, "This is my house.
So, whatever I can do to get it, I'm gonna get it."
You guys, I'm not even kidding.
this is the literal SWAT team that was called.
[Alzo] Shanetta Little was finalizing construction plans
on her first home
when a stranger changed the locks
and told her that the house she bought was actually his.
[Shanetta] They call themselves Moors.
They basically say that they have ancestral rights
due to a lot of treaties and tribunal law,
that they have rights to the land here.
[Alzo] So you buy this place.
You have this amazing vision for it,
and all of a sudden, you get a letter?
Yes, I got two letters, actually.
The first one, I got from Jaleel-Hu El.
There were, like, seals and fingerprints and signatures,
basically saying that my home was
on someone else's ancestral lands.
Well, I ignored it the first time,
and they sent me another letter,
saying because I didn't respond,
"Now we own this house."
The third time was basically when all shit hit the fan.
So they sawed off the locks, put their own locks on.
He is now occupying the home.
How did they get him out of the house?
Oh, they busted the door down,
and they basically dragged him out.
And it was really scary.
Like, you know, I applied for a gun license,
I got pepper spray, you know, knives.
Wow. Wow.
It was really, really traumatizing.
Police officers still reeling from a deadly attack.
Three officers were shot and killed.
The manhunt is on for this man--
a career criminal considered very armed and very dangerous.
[Alzo] In recent years, isolated and random incidents
of violence, fraud, burglary, and squatting
committed by Moorish extremists
have put Moors on the radar of law enforcement nationwide.
[reporter] A Newark home
taken over by an alleged extremist group.
that not only changed the locks
but actually claimed ownership over the property.
[Alzo] The man who occupied Shanetta's home
was never charged and still maintains
the land belongs to him.
We did our best to speak with him,
but he demanded to be paid.
So that interview didn't happen,
but we did find a video
he posted about the incident online.
This is the actual claim of not the house itself.
It's actually the land.
And it just so happened that the house is on top of it.
If she did not come off so belligerent
and so angry and so aggressive,
we would've sat her down,
explained to her what's going on.
[Alzo] So what is going on?
Historically, Moors are renowned
as an incredibly powerful
and influential group of North Africans.
They once controlled an empire
that included modern-day West Sahara,
Algeria, Tunisia, and Spain,
but many Moors believe that the Moroccan empire
expanded all the way to the Americas,
making all Black people ultimately indigenous
to an America that predates the United States altogether.
For most of the one million Moors across America today,
that's just their origin story.
Many attend one
of the official Moorish Science temples
and peacefully study their own Quran,
but for others, it's more than just a religion.
Their Indigenous identity means land rights,
citizenship, and living under U.S. laws
are all called into question.
Why is that not the first thing you want to do?
Realign yourself with your ancestry.
Realign yourself with the great god Allah.
Realign yourself with your birthright and your culture.
So I want you to write this down so that--
for anyone who thinks they can challenge this information,
it's available--all scholars know this stuff.
Look up and be more enlightened to what's out there.
[Alzo] There are many independent,
nonviolent Moorish organizations across the U.S.
who believe they were colonized
and that state laws shouldn't apply to them.
One of them is the Rise of the Moors.
[reporter] Disruptive and combative.
They're all members of the Rise of the Moors,
an antigovernment, sovereign-citizen movement.
[reporter] This is a group that does not believe
it needs to follow the law.
[Alzo] Julisa and her husband are founding members
of this Rhode Island-based group
who believe that the state
doesn't have jurisdiction over them.
You all have been called sovereign.
You all have been called antigovernment.
Do any of those terms ring true?
No, I think people like a good villain,
and I think that it's really a lack of understanding
of what we're doing.
[Jamhal] What are the charges?
What am I being arrested for?
[Alzo] Last summer, eleven members,
including Julisa's husband, Jamhal,
were arrested while en route to a militia training
and camping trip.
None of them could produce government driver's licenses
or gun permits for their weapons.
Help me understand
you all's relationship with the United States of America.
We, Moors,
don't have anything to do with the United States government
because we don't belong.
We belong to the Moroccan empire.
We want to have our own separate nation,
our own separate government--
hospitals, towns, schools, day cares,
our own police.
You know, we're getting our rights violated left and right
on the streets constantly.
Black History Month--
what do they show on TV or in school?
It's always so-called Black people getting the hose,
getting mauled by dogs.
It's nothing uplifting at all.
It's never, "Look at what you were.
Look at what you can be."
It's always, like, "This is what you are,
and this is what you're always gonna continue to be."
It's a form of propaganda and brainwashing.
[Alzo] According to Julisa,
the perfect storm of civil unrest,
police violence, and systemic racism
are attracting new members--
people who are sick and tired of the status quo
and frustrated at the treatment of people
who look like them.
What is it exactly that you all want?
[Julisa] Freedom. To not be oppressed.
To not have life so hard to live.
To just come together
and establish our actual own government
and our own everything.
[Alzo] Until then, Moors and non-Moors live side by side,
sharing taxpayer-funded public resources,
but in an effort to increase economic mobility
and establish precedent for autonomy,
Moors nationals are leveraging lawsuits
to further their agenda.
These goals are enough
to classify them as antigovernment
by the likes of the Anti-Defamation League
and law enforcement.
[Kory] This stuff represents
a couple years of just collecting and gathering,
and you can be knee-deep in paperwork quickly.
[Alzo] Called paper terrorism by those on the receiving end,
Moorish nationals overwhelm court systems
with retaliatory lawsuits, liens, and filings,
all creating a paperwork hellscape
for government officials,
most of whom have no idea what they're reading.
Lieutenant Flowers, yeah? Alzo.
-[Kory] Good to see you. -Thanks for having me.
Kory Flowers has been a cop for more than 22 years
and has spent time infiltrating extremist groups
and training government employees
on how to handle them.
Hi. Good morning, ladies and gents.
Good morning.
Moorish sovereigns are very heavy
into all manner of fraud,
a lot of times very complex fraud,
like mortgage schemes, postage-stamp fraud,
credit-card fraud, wire fraud, a lot of bank fraud.
Paper terrorism-- you guys heard of this?
You can use physical legal documentation,
whether it's putting a lien
against somebody else's property,
filing a lawsuit against somebody else
in order to intimidate them,
particularly in their professional capacity,
which definitely creates stress, right?
The idea that some folks you guys deal with
could impact your livelihood?
That's a intimidating thing.
[Alzo] Flowers himself has been
on the receiving end of this tactic,
which most often targets law enforcement
and core personnel.
I'm wondering if you can walk me through what this is.
[Kory chuckles] Yeah, so this is a lawsuit
against two former police chiefs,
a couple mayors, me.
In this fella's opinion, these are all the people
that he believes wronged him legally.
So this is a lawsuit for four billion dollars.
-[Alzo] Four billion dollars? -With a "B," yeah.
Have you seen an increase
in the number of people claiming to be sovereign?
Yeah, there's definitely been an increase.
Anytime you have, like, an election where power changes,
and especially if party changes,
you have effectively half of the country
that gets into a panic to varying degrees.
Panic like that will often drive folks to these movements.
What threat do these folks pose?
When you have a subgroup
that just believes the rules don't apply to them at all,
like, that creates chaos.
[Alzo] There are now almost three million messages
to the government to recognize Moors
as a federally autonomous body of Indigenous Americans,
but that's not what most Moors want,
and distinguishing themselves from that ideology
has been a priority for the original
Moorish Science Temple of America.
There are Moors across the country.
We know of groups in Rhode Island and New Jersey,
but neither of those groups are part
of the Moorish Science Temple of America,
which are, like, the OG Moorish Americans.
We came here to their headquarters
to speak to the supreme grand sheik
to see if he thinks these splinter groups are legit
and if their practices
are in line with their Moorish teachings.
The Moorish Science Temple of America was founded in 1913
by Noble Drew Ali, who taught that
all Black people were stripped of their national identity
and Islamic faith through racist oppression.
At its peak in the 1920s,
it boasted upwards to 35,000 members
who aspired to uplift a fallen humanity.
We've come to Sunday school to learn
from the eighth-generation successor
of Prophet Noble Drew Ali--
the supreme grand sheik.
[bell ringing]
[E.] Welcome to today's Sunday school.
I'm gonna ask some questions first.
Is a man white?
Is a man Black?
Man is not a color, period.
Nationality was, is, and will always be what?
The order of the day.
[Alzo] What are the principles
that the Moorish Science Temple of America stand for?
So there's love,
truth,
peace,
freedom,
and justice.
However, we do have fundamental principles,
and one of them is obedience to law.
We're not encouraging members or anyone else
to be involved in anything unlawful and disgraceful.
When the public sees Moors,
it seems like they just lump you all into one group.
[E.] That's true.
But there are groups of Moors
that don't comport themselves in the way that you all do.
How do you reconcile that?
They're robbers and schemers.
Moorish Americans don't do those kind of things,
and it's written in our laws.
We don't take people's property,
and we're not anti-American.
This is not an Afrocentric organization,
and for those who try to make it that way,
they will pay the price.
As the Moorish Science Temple of America,
do you feel any sense of obligation
to check those fringe groups?
Oh, yeah, we check them all the time...
all the time.
What does that look like?
[E.] It looks like you're being caught
with your hand in the cookie jar.
And we see you with your hand in the cookie jar...
[chuckles]
...and you still lie that that's not your hand.
But they don't have to be told that they're wrong,
as much as the law is telling them that they're wrong,
because whether you have a fez on or not,
if you're breaking the law, you're breaking the law,
and you're gonna get yours.
[Alzo] Jamhal has been incarcerated
since last summer's roadside incident.
If convicted on all 11 indictments--
mostly weapons charges--
he could be locked up for decades.
Julisa continues to attend each of Jamhal's hearings.
We were able to speak to him through a recorded line
after his most recent pretrial hearing,
where he remained steadfast in his mission.
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