Trotman accuses Govt. of closing gold smuggling investigation days after taking office in 2020

Jun 16, 2024 News

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Kaieteur News – Former Minster of Natural Resources under the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)+ Alliance For Change (AFC) coalition government, Raphael Trotman, on Saturday sought to remind the government that under the APNU+AFC government, an investigation into gold smuggling was launched but swiftly closed after the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government took office in 2020.

Trotman’s statement follows this week’s announcement by the United States Department of the Treasury that sanctions have been imposed on businessmen Nazar Mohamed and son, Azruddin Mohamed over the alleged gold smuggling. The allegations leveled against the Mohameds point to defrauding the Government of Guyana of US$50M in taxes from smuggled gold and bribing of public officials.

The U.S. Department of Treasury also imposed cited Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour, Mae Thomas, for alleged corruption. She is accused of, while serving as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs from October 2020-August 2023, offering benefits to Mohamed’s Enterprise and Azruddin Mohamed in exchange for cash payments and high-valued gifts.

On Thursday, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo told reporters at a press conference that the gold smuggling issues is not new to Guyana. He noted that in 2016, Trotman disclosed that 24, 260kg of gold was smuggled. However, in the current case involving the Mohameds, 10,000kg was smuggled from 2019-2023.

“…but you had twice as much smuggled, based on what Trotman is saying, per year, not over a 5-year period, twice as much smuggled per year in 2016, so it is not a new issue; we never saw the individuals who were identified [as part of gold smuggling racket] based on the Stabroek News story, they never got that but we know for sure that the team came here and met with them because this is what he [Trotman] said, and he said that they were given the quantities as to how much was exported,” Jagdeo told reporters.

In response to the Vice President, Trotman in a press statement said that there was a briefing in 2015 of a sensitive nature with him and then Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan about an ongoing investigation in the U.S. which “supposedly involved” Guyanese.

“This investigation had started a few years prior, which was before the Coalition’s term of office commenced, and it was ongoing. I continued to receive briefings on various matters during my tenure as Minister,” Trotman said about the briefing with the U.S. Law Enforcement officials.

“The primary concern shared by the US agents in 2015, was the belief that gold, mined in Guyana, Venezuela and Colombia, was being illegally shipped from, and through Guyana, to the US. Most concerning, was the belief that the proceeds of the sale of this gold were financing activities that were very inimical to the security and interests of the United States. This was not an investigation into corruption only,” the former Natural Resources Minister said.

He explained that the information was only shared at that time because the agents were then authorized to do so. Trotman said the agents said there were “serious concerns about confidences being kept and sensitive investigations being compromised by government of Guyana officials.”

Further, he said that local law enforcement agencies were to be briefed as well.

“The sharing of that intelligence with us was just that, a briefing, and we were not asked to provide any information, or to take any action on the Guyana side,” Trotman disclosed.

The former government official said he asked the U.S. agents whether he could “speak publicly about the numbers that were disclosed and was told that I could”.

“Sometime afterwards, the Ministry of the Presidency ordered and initiated its own intelligence-led operation, with a unique sorbiquet, to curb gold smuggling and transnational crime. I am reliably informed that this operation was shut down within 5 days of the new administration taking office in August, 2020,” he said.

Trotman said too that the successful efforts of the Guyana Gold Board, and others, to raise the gold declarations during the period 2015-2020, speak for themselves while noting that gold smuggling is not a new phenomenon.

The Department of Treasury stated its period of investigation as 2019-2023, noting that it was during that time that the Mohameds were allegedly involved in US$50 million tax evasion schemes due to the non-declaration of some 10,000 kilogrammes of gold.

“Azruddin and Mohamed’s Enterprise evaded Guyana’s tax on gold exports and defrauded the Guyanese government of tax revenues by under declaring their gold exports to Guyanese authorities. Between 2019 and 2023, Mohamed’s Enterprise omitted more than 10 thousand kilogrammes of gold from import and export declarations and avoided paying more than [US] $50 million in duty taxes to the Government of Guyana,” the US Agency said.

In this regard, Trotman said based on the statement issued by the U.S. Department of Treasury, it would appear that the sanctions imposed arose from a separate investigation.

“One only hopes that the US government will now feel comfortable and secure in sharing ‘Top Secret’ information about ongoing operations and investigations of this nature, with our government, as they did before,” the former Natural Resources Minister said.

Notwithstanding Trotman’s response, the Ministry of Natural Resources now headed by Minister Vickram Bharrat described Trotman’s statements as “another fit of his fantasy”.

The Ministry said in 2016 in a published news report, “Mr. Trotman admitted that 50% to 60% of LOCAL GOLD PRODUCTION was lost to smuggling, as he estimated that approximately 15,000 ounces of gold were being smuggled overseas weekly.”

The Ministry said both Trotman and then Public Security Minister Ramjattan should be held accountable if they were made aware of the severity of the gold smuggling issue in Guyana.

The Ministry also accused Trotman of trying to change the narrative about the source of gold smuggling by referring to an operation involving Guyana, Venezuela and Columbia, “although he mentioned the source as LOCAL GOLD PRODUCTION in the very news article in 2016”.

Speaking to the intelligence-led operation referenced by Trotman the Ministry of Natural Resources called on the former minister to disclose, “who were involved in this intelligence led operation? Which law enforcement agency led this investigation? Why was no one charged in five years while they were in Government? Why has no report or any information whatsoever in respect of this investigation ever been made public? Why only now, nearly a decade after, the public is hearing of this information and investigation?”

Further, the Ministry said that “no such operations/investigation were discovered at the Office of the President in August 2020 and logically, there was no “shut down” of any such operation within five days of the Government taking office three and a half years ago, or at all.”

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• gold smuggling, Ministry of Natural Resources, Mohameds, Raphael Trotman, United States government

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