Guyana leader in Facebook 'scam'

The president of Guyana has asked police to investigate who is impersonating him on Facebook, the social networking website.

A government statement said that Bharrat Jagdeo was not a Facebook member, the Associated Press reported.

The apparent Jagdeo page has more than 170 supporters, and features images of the president as well as his biography.

Last year, a Moroccan was jailed for setting up a Facebook profile in the name of a member of the royal family.

Facebook also removed two bogus profiles of Bilawal Bhutto, son of the murdered Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto, after an investigation found the entries "not authentic".

Questions raised

President Jagdeo's page has two photograph albums, one of a well-known bridge in Guyana, the Berbice, and the other of international leaders, some with the president.

Only three people have posted messages, including a man who questions whether the profile was authentic.

"Is this President Bharrat Jagdeo's personal Facebook? Is it his official one?" the message reads.

The Guyana government said that officials also discovered that someone had impersonated the president of the South American nation on another social networking site.