Trotman backs Jagdeo’s call for full gold smuggling probe

Oct 23, 2025 News

…says GHK Lall “incorruptible”

(Kaieteur News) – Former Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman has thrown his support behind the full-fledged probe that Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has called for into those who may have helped the Mohameds to allegedly smuggle gold out of Guyana.

Trotman backs Jagdeo’s call for full gold smuggling probe

Former Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman

Trotman who served as minister under the previous A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) government, made the disclosure to Kaieteur News on Wednesday afternoon. “[I] would prefer to reserve my further comments for the investigators,” the former minister said.

While much attention has been placed on sanctioned businessmen Nazar and Azruddin, Vice President Jagdeo recently stated that the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) must expand their current probe beyond the businessmen. The vice president had singled out former Chair of the Guyana Gold Board (GGB), Gabriel “GHK” Lall, who served as GGB Chair from March 2017 to February 2020, stating that an investigation should be conducted into him and other public servants and officials. This call by Jagdeo followed the indictment of the Mohameds in a United States federal court on 11 charges of wire and mail fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and the importation of a Lamborghini luxury car- all stemming from accusations of massive tax fraud committed against Guyana.

The indictment, unsealed on October 2, 2025, accuses the Mohameds of orchestrating an elaborate fraud and money-laundering scheme involving gold exports, customs fraud, bribery, and the evasion of millions in taxes and royalties owed to Guyana.

Jagdeo said, “I expect that a full-fledged investigation would be launched into those people who from the gold board…who may have been complicit in assisting the Mohameds to evade the massive sum of taxes.” Notably, while Trotman supports this investigation, he noted, “nothing new to add, except to say that I had every confidence in GHK Lall as Chairman and found him to be incorruptible.”

At his own press conference earlier this week, Lall also said he supports the investigation. However, he urged the government to bring in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to participate. Lall told reporters that during his tenure there were rumours of gold being smuggled but no concrete evidence as to the players who were reportedly involved in gold smuggling. “…as to the specifics of persons, groups that were possibly engaged in that, there wasn’t much more coming to us about that,” Lall said.

Former Chair of the Guyana Gold Board (GGB), Gabriel “GHK” Lall

He added, “Were the names of the Mohameds or any other put on the table during my time in relation to gold smuggling. What I can tell you is that there were suspicion of different players major players involved in gold smuggling… so directly to your question the answer is no.”

Moreover, Lall had disclosed that during his tenure he was called into the United States Embassy, where he was showed by the U.S Regional Security Officer, a folder that contained names of 40 suspected criminals of gold smuggling, drugs, money laundering and other crimes. He noted that while all the players were Guyanese he did not recognise any of them, or that the file included Nazar or Azruddin.

Notably, in an interview with Demerara Waves, Trotman said that the FBI had shared information about gold smuggling during his tenure. Trotman told Demerara Waves that in the dossier provided by the FBI, the Mohameds were included as well as other gold dealers.

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Azruddin, GHK Lall, gold smuggling, Guyana Gold, Raphael Trotman

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