Border enforcement, presence of mining officers in gold camps to be stepped up

– as part of Govt efforts to track gold production, clamp down on smuggling

With the gold industry facing challenges such as gold smuggling and suspected under-declarations, the government has already made efforts to step up its enforcement not only at the border but in mining camps as well where it is tracking production.
During a recent event where his Ministry engaged with stakeholders, Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat spoke of the Government’s efforts at enforcement. He acknowledged that gold declarations have faced a range of setbacks, from weather to more man-made reasons such as persons preferring coastal work to jobs in the interior.

“We’ve been speaking about climate change and global warming for years now, but we’re seeing the impact of it today. In 2021, when I first took over, we had a flooding in the mining district. I personally went down the Mazaruni.”
“The shops, there were about 10, 15 feet of water in the shops on the landing. In 2024, you know the issue. There’s flooding again. So, the weather hasn’t been kind over the last four years,” Bharrat said.
Minister Bharrat spoke of the resources that have gone into stepping up protection at the border, as well as tracking gold production. This has included having mine officers visit gold mining camps, though the challenges regarding labour remain.
“It’s been one extreme to the other. And we have worked and put a lot of resources, personnel and effort into protecting the borders so that we don’t have any infiltration from the border. We have put systems in place too, to ensure that we can track production at every mining operation in the country.”
“And we can have our mines officer visit these mining operations and record their production. Almost every month. So, all of these systems that we put in place, but yet we’re faced with the challenge of labour and importantly, the weather as well.”
During his recent press conference with the media, President Dr Irfaan Ali announced that all local gold exporters are being probed by the state, in light of the recent US sanctions against a well-known gold exporter. This is to ensure accurate gold declarations are being made.
Earlier this month, two US citizens and one Guyanese were intercepted with US$560,000 worth of raw gold at the airport at Timehri. The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) reported that customs officers, with the support of officers attached to the Natural Resources Ministry and the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU), unearthed 240 ounces of pure (raw) gold disguised as silver-plated jewellery on outgoing passengers on an American Airlines flight to JFK Airport in New York.
The gold was confiscated after the three passengers were unable to produce the required permit and declaration to customs officials. Saffee Ahmad, an overseas-based Guyanese businessman, was also arrested and charged last week for exporting gold without a license.
A few weeks ago, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had also sanctioned prominent businessman Nazar Mohamed and his son Azruddin Mohamed, along with their company Mohamed’s Enterprise, and former Permanent Secretary of the Home Affairs Ministry, Mae Thomas, for their alleged roles in public corruption in Guyana.
The US Treasury Dept has also alleged that Mohamed’s Enterprise evaded Guyana’s tax on gold exports and defrauded the Guyana Government of tax revenues by under-declaring gold exports to Guyanese authorities.
Between 2019 and 2023, Mohamed’s Enterprise is alleged to have 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.
In addition, US authorities have stated that the company bribed customs officials to falsify import and export documents, as well as to facilitate illicit gold shipments.
Following the release, the Government of Guyana stated that the Finance Ministry and relevant statutory agencies, including the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), would be requesting additional information on the matters highlighted, to aid local law enforcement agencies in their investigations.
Several days later, the Bank of Guyana (BoG) moved to revoke the cambio licence issued to Mohamed’s Enterprise – one of the companies fingered in the allegations along with their owners.
This is one of a series of actions taken by the Guyana Government since US sanctions were announced against the Mohameds as well as three of their companies, including Mohamed’s Enterprise. (G-3)