$380M tax evasion case: Acting Chief Magistrate transfers US-sanctioned man’s case to new court

The tax evasion case against United States-sanctioned businessman and We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party leader, Azruddin Mohamed, has been reassigned to a new court by acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty, who said her current caseload is already overwhelming.
The matter, which stems from allegations of fraudulent declarations and tax evasion tied to the importation of a luxury vehicle in 2020, will now be heard in Court Three before Magistrate Fabayo Azore.
“I certainly would not be the Magistrate doing this trial. I believe I have quite a lot on my plate already, so I propose to transfer the matter to another Magistrate,” Chief Magistrate (ag) McGusty told the court on Wednesday morning.
The case is expected to return on Friday, October 3, at 09:00h for a report, at which point the new Magistrate is likely to set a date for a Case Management Conference (CMC) to determine when the trial will begin.
During Wednesday’s proceedings, the Guyana Revenue Authority’s (GRA) attorney, Sanjeev Datadin, pressed for an early date, arguing that the prosecution was ready to proceed.

“Your worship, we have been on this all the time; the prosecution wants to get on. All we are asking for is not a very long time where we are reporting all the time. So, at this stage, any date next week, any date at any time next week, that the court is mindful to send us so that we report, would be agreeable,” Datadin said.
However, Defence Attorney Siand Dhurjon requested more time, while the acting Chief Magistrate clarified that the October 3 appearance would be strictly for a report and not for trial commencement.
The case centres on Mohamed’s alleged understating of the value of a Lamborghini luxury vehicle, declaring it at US$75,300 when the true purchase price was US$695,000.
By doing so, the prosecution’s case is that the US-sanctioned man evaded more than $380 million in local taxes, in violation of Section 217 of the Customs Act. He has also been charged with fraudulent declaration under the same act.
In 2024, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that it sanctioned Nazar Mohamed and his son, Azruddin Mohamed, as well as several of their companies.
According to a statement from OFAC, this is related to the evasion of taxes on gold exports, noting that 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.