Banks justified in cutting ties with US-sanctioned Mohamed WIN’s candidates – Jagdeo

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and the country’s Vice President (VP) Bharrat Jagdeo has rubbished claims by candidates of the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) political party, founded by United States (US)-sanctioned businessman Azruddin Mohamed, that the Government is influencing commercial banks to close their accounts.

“They’re quick to say everything is ‘PPP discrimination – this bank is closed to the Peoples Progressive Party; that is why the accounts were closed’.” Jagdeo said during his party’s weekly press conference on Thursday.
However, he noted that former member of the PPP, Mae Thomas, who – along with Mohamed, his father, and businesses – was sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), had her accounts closed shortly after the sanctions were disclosed.
“What about Mae Thomas? The fact of the matter is that Mae Thomas’ accounts were closed by Citizens Bank and Republic Bank. That is the fact of the matter.” Jagdeo highlighted.
Thomas is a former Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Labour.
In 2024, OFAC announced that it sanctioned Nazar Mohamed and his son, Azruddin Mohamed, as well as several of their companies.
Sanctioned Azruddin Mohamed has since launched a political party – WIN – to contest the 2025 General and Regional Elections; he is listed as the presidential candidate.

Cut ties
It was recently disclosed that Demerara Bank Limited has so far moved to close the accounts of several of WIN’s candidates, including Duarte Hetsberger, Natasha Singh-Lewis, and Trishanna Park-Cort.
While they have alleged discrimination by the bank, the financial institution has stated that its decision was made to ensure it complies with regulations of the international financial sector as it relates to sanctioned individuals.
Jagdeo on Thursday explained that all banks will be forced to de-risk their services to protect relations with United States banking facilities.
“The banks in Guyana, if they lose two things: access to the SWIFT that allows them to transfer money – it’s a code used by all banks around the world – when you transfer money abroad, you have to access that system,” he explained.
“If you lose correspondent banking relations with the US or you lose access to the SWIFT, you might as well shut down the bank; you can’t function, you can’t send a wire transfer abroad,” he further outlined.
Jagdeo, an economist by profession who also served as Minister of Finance from 1995 to 1999, further questioned, “How will we pay for goods and services? We going to put the money in a bag or get Mohamed to smuggle it out for you?”
He noted that the candidates affected by the banks’ decision were aware of what they were signing up for, as they were adequately warned about the risks of being associated with a US-sanctioned individual at that level of OFAC.
“What is this big outrage? All the people who are on his list, in spite of being told about this, you’re now formally part of an organisation headed by a man who is an OFAC-sanctioned individual. It is different from when you were not on the list… So you are subjected to enhanced scrutiny; no bank will want to risk their relationship with the US,” Jagdeo said.
He pointed out that more banks will be taking similar steps to protect their relations with US banks as well as the private sector.
Jagdeo also used the opportunity to criticise Mohamed and his associates for trying to downplay the impact of the US sanctions.
“They don’t look at themselves. I can’t imagine the level of stupidity in the analysis that I see,” he expressed.
US Ambassador to Guyana Nicole Theriot recently expressed that the US would be concerned if the sanctioned businessman is elected a parliamentarian.
The VP posited that the ambassador is also justified in her statement.
“The treasury sanction is a serious sanction; it’s not just like taking away your visa, which is a form of sanction too… It dictates how US entities can engage with sanctioned individuals; you are prohibited from dealing with these individuals,” Jagdeo explained.
He also expressed that the local private sector may be worried about their investments in light of these developments.
“Look how many franchises you have here, Starbucks; you have all of the other [US] franchises now… You don’t wanna lose your jobs or your money you invested in these things. The private sector must be worried too, extremely worried about the possibility of a sanctioned individual causing consequences for them and their families and their businesses and their employees,” Jagdeo said.