Govt. promises crackdown on gold smuggling

Aug 13, 2025 News

….as allegations surface implicating President, minister in kickback schemes

Govt. promises crackdown on gold smuggling

Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo

Kaieteur News – With allegations swirling about massive gold smuggling and other corruption allegations that implicate President Irfaan Ali and at least one of his ministers, Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo said on Monday that the PPP/C Administration is considering tougher actions to curb the illegal activity that continues to drain state revenues and undermine the livelihoods of small- and medium-scale miners.

In a leaked interview done with Travis Chase, businessman and gold miner Azeem ‘Junior’ Baksh said that one of his business associates, Satynarine Sahadeo owner of VALS Construction had alleged that the president would get a cut back from state contracts awarded to him and that at one time a very close relative of the head of state had reached out to Sahadeo demanding the cutback.

The gold miner also in the said interview alleged that a minister was also involved in a business arrangement involving mining lands and that the minister too received kickbacks. The gold miner later issued a statement saying that he found out after he did the interview that the allegations against the relative of the president demanding the kickback were false. Sahadeo also has come forward denying what Baksh said of him.

Meanwhile, speaking on the government-sponsored programme “Starting Point”, Jagdeo acknowledged that while authorities have made significant attempts to tackle the problem, the trade has become more complex, with foreign actors, including some from China, now playing a role.

“The problem is that a lot of these are foreign nationals… the problem is when you charge people for smuggling, they get bail… and it’s harder to charge them for money laundering offenses. So, we now have to strengthen the charges that we place on those people,” he explained. When the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) Administration first returned to office, Canadian buyers signalled they were ready to halt gold purchases from Guyana, citing fears of “contaminated,” gold entering the system.

At that time, the concern was that Venezuelan gold was being routed through Guyana, re-exported, and used to bypass sanctions on Venezuela. According to Vice President Jagdeo, the situation has now shifted. Authorities are hearing reports that gold from Guyana is being smuggled into Brazil. He cautioned that if the country’s gold sector were ever subjected to international sanctions, “all of our gold miners would be put at risk.”

According to Jagdeo, a coordinated response has since allowed authorities to detect new methods being used by smugglers. This includes the creation of a multi-agency task force and the implementation of closer monitoring of gold declarations. The task force, which is comprised of the Attorney-General, the Minister of Finance, the Commissioner-General of the GRA, the Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the Governor of the Central Bank and representatives of the Guyana Gold Board, has already flagged weaknesses in existing regulations, and work is underway to tighten them.

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allegations, Bharrat Jagdeo, gold, smuggling

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