Banks closed Mae Thomas’ accounts one week after OFAC sanctions – Jagdeo

Aug 08, 2025 News

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Kaieteur News – Vice President (VP), Bharrat Jagdeo has revealed that several banks had closed the accounts of OFAC-sanctioned Permanent Secretary, Mae Thomas shortly after the US Treasury Department sanctions took effect.

Jagdeo told a news conference on Thursday that he felt the need to clear the air on the issue, given the closure of the accounts for candidates of the Azruddin Mohamed-led, We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party. Both Mohamed and Thomas were sanctioned by the US Treasury Department.  The VP disclosed “… I asked because they were making it look like she had a bank account and the others lost their accounts and saying that some of the banks were treating her preferentially.”

He continued “For Mae Thomas, I found out one thing…I found out and her accounts were closed by all her banks about a week after the sanctions took place. So, she does not, as far as I’m told, she does not have a bank account with any bank. So that’s all I found out. I didn’t ask much more about it. So that’s my position as of this time. I don’t know… I don’t know how they do that if she’s being paid or not. But I know that for sure that she’s not treated preferentially by the banking system.”

He explained too that he is not aware how the Permanent Secretary, who has been on administrative leave, is being paid. In response to a question of how the government deals with WIN candidates who lost their accounts and are still employed by the state Jagdeo stated ”…we haven’t given it thought cause a lot of them are distraught now you know they’re not going to be able to have a bank account. They would have to probably collect their money in cash, but I don’t know. We’d have to think through it. We’ll have to think through how that’s dealt with.”

For those uncomfortable with the implications due to their candidacy with WIN, the VP recommended that they publicly denounce their association to the party. “What I said to them listen don’t come to talk to me because next thing they’re going to say I called you to come here. So why don’t you go publicly and say it right to the newspaper and say I disassociate myself. I never sign up to be your candidate. Um I signed up for another person. And so, I would advise them if they’re listening to do that publicly declare that maybe if you do that again then maybe the banks might reconsider it having done it publicly.”

The VP’s comments come days after Senior Counsel, Timothy Jonas raised concerns on how the government and commercial banks are dealing with Thomas in wake of a move by several banks to close the accounts of candidates of WIN. To that end, the lawyer noted that while he maintained that the banks have the right to cut ties with OFAC sanctioned individuals and their associates to protect their integrity and avoid international risks, he said the measures should be applied across the board.

The lawyer noted that the recent reports that banks have been closing the accounts for candidates of WIN raises questions on how the entities dealt with Thomas, who was also sanctioned by OFAC. He posited, “If the banks are going to be consistent in their approach. The banks similarly would have to sever all relations with Mae Thomas, closed her accounts, and her family; her husband’s, siblings, parents, children, and associates; they would have to close all of their accounts.”

The lawyer continued, “If the banks or any of them did not do that, then that is a problem because the banks by failing to take those measures, and they would have to cast the net as wide as they cast it for the Mohameds. But by failing to take those measures… The banks would run exactly the same risk of losing its corresponding status with the American bank.”

Jonas, a former founding member of A New and United Guyana (ANUG), a party which was recently absorbed by WIN noted nonetheless, it is not for the banks to state whether they have closed Thomas’ accounts. “We don’t know because the banks can’t tell us because they have a duty of confidentiality, whether they took those measures with Mae Thomas.”

Additionally, the lawyer noted the issue now raises questions about Thomas’ position with the ruling People Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C). “We also don’t know if Mae Thomas continues to be on any list associated with the People Progressive Party, we know she was a card-carrying member, she continues to be supportive; she was at their last internal elections, she was in the elections…” he said.

The lawyer also questioned how Thomas who has been on administrative leave since the sanctions, is being paid her government salary. “Another point that came out in the news is that Mr. Jagdeo has acknowledged that the government continues to pay Mae Thomas a salary.  Is the government paying her cash or is the government paying her a cheque, and if the government is paying her cheque, where does she go to cash this cheque? Does she endorse the cheque to an associate?  Because, if she does, then that associate runs the risk of being sanctioned,” he asserted.

As such, Jonas held that “However wide a net was cast for the Mohamed and the WIN party, hopefully the same net is cast for Mae Thomas, whatever party she is associated with, whatever list she is on”

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• bank, Bharrat Jagdeo, Mae Thomas, OFAC sanctions, WIN candidates

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