Questions raised over govt’s handling of US sanctions against Mohameds

Jun 21, 2024 News

Kaieteur News – President Irfaan Ali on Thursday faced members of the media where several questions were posed to him on the handling of the United States’ sanctions on Guyanese billionaire Nazar Mohamed and his son Azruddin Mohamed.

On June 11, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced the imposition of sanctions on the Mohameds and their entities for alleged corruption, specifically gold smuggling and evading taxes.

The head-of-state was asked on what legal basis the government revoked the Mohameds’ cambio licence some 48 hours after the sanctions were announced, especially in light of the absence of information from the US.

“The Bank of Guyana is the regulatory agency in relation to the granting of cambio licence. They act based on their regulations and what is expected of them,” Ali said. He continued, “So the Bank of Guyana acted based on the sanctions and what their regulations say. So that would be a question properly put to the governor of the bank.”

To this end, he noted that agencies like the Guyana Gold Board (GGB) and Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) are navigating based on the sanctions.

According to the OFAC, the Mohameds allegedly evaded 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 kilograms 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 Treasury alleged.

During the press briefing, another journalist questioned government’s swift revocation of the cambio licence in contrast to the Mohameds’ gold mining and gold export licence, noting that gold transactions were a focal point in the OFAC report.

“…I don’t want to be premature. The agencies are engaging, as you know there is a lot of intricacies…the agencies are independent and they will take the necessary decisions,” Ali responded.

“So it has not been revoked?” the journalist followed up. Ali responded, “I can’t say…whether it’s been revoked as yet. I know there is a process, there’s a process of engagement, the process with the banks, the gold board…all of those processes are ongoing.”

When pressed further, President Ali said that all transactions with the sanctioned company are suspended.

However, he stated, “We can’t operate without the information,” adding, “Everything is suspended, let’s make that very clear. All transactions with the gold board, everything is suspended.”

Ali reiterated that the government is still awaiting information from the US on the allegations. He said that, once the information is received, discrepancies between local declarations and those in the report will be examined to build a case for tax evasion, enabling the GRA and other agencies to take necessary actions.

Moreover, Ali responded to inquiries regarding the government being ‘left in the dark’ about the probe which has been ongoing for over two years. In his response, Ali emphasised the robust relationship between Guyana and the US, and stated, “No, I don’t agree that we were left in the dark, and I’m not surprised by anything in my life. Nothing surprises me in life.”

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Gold Board, Guyanese, Mohameds’ cambio licence, OFAC, The Bank of Guyana

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