High Court rejects US-indicted Mohameds’ application to reinstate cambio licence

…upholds BoG’s revocation

The High Court in Georgetown on Thursday dismissed an application filed by United States-indicted businessmen, Nazar and Azruddin Mohamed, seeking to reinstate their cambio licence.
On June 13, 2024, the Bank of Guyana (BoG) had revoked the cambio of licence, trading under the name “Confidential Cambio”, of the Mohameds. This was after the US Department of Justice’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had sanctioned the Mohameds and their businesses in relation to gold smuggling and public corruption allegations. As a consequence, the Mohameds were added to the OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, which includes individuals, entities, and organisations with whom US persons are generally prohibited from doing business with. Exactly one year later, on June 13, 2025, the two Guyanese businessmen filed proceedings in the High Court, asking the Court for orders declaring that the revocation of their Cambio licence by the Bank of Guyana was unlawful, null, void and of no legal effect and to also order its restoration.
According to court documents, the Mohameds (applicants) contended that they were not afforded an opportunity to be heard prior to the revocation of the licence, in breach of the principles of natural justice. They further argued that the Bank of Guyana (Respondent) “acted unfairly, unreasonably and in breach of lawful procedure when it revoked the applicants’ cambio licence based solely on an external designation without due process”.

Cambio licence revoked lawfully
However, in handing down her decision on Thursday, High Court Judge Justice Damone Younge rejected the applicants’ contention that they were not afforded an opportunity to be heard prior to the revocation of their licence. The Judge cited a letter, dated June 12, 2024, that was attached to the Mohamed’s application, expressly inviting them to a hearing to be heard. She also pointed to an email response by Nazar Mohamed, who indicated he would attend the hearing but failed to show up.
“It is clear to this Court that the applicants were provided with an opportunity to be heard prior to the revocation of the licence, but for reasons known only to them, they did not avail themselves of the opportunity,” Justice Younge said in her ruling.
The court further unequivocally dismissed the applicants’ contention that the Bank of Guyana had predetermined the matter or that the letter of June 12, 2024, revoked the licence.

Moreover, the High Court Judge found that the Bank of Guyana was vested with the authority to revoke the Cambio licence of the applicants and did so lawfully under the Dealers in Foreign Currency (Licensing) Act, specifically Section 4(1)(c), which states, “The Bank, after consultation with the Minister, may, having regard to…(c) the character and antecedents of the applicant, grant or refuse to grant to him a licence.”
Justice Younge contended that the “character and antecedents of the applicant” are essential factors to be taken into consideration by the Central Bank. “Therefore, any circumstance that would impact the character of a licensee is a circumstance that can be properly taken into account by the Bank of Guyana when determining whether to exercise the discretion to grant or refuse to grant a licence,” she stated.

Has power to revoke
Another section of the Act that the Judge took into consideration is Section 8(1), which says, “The Bank may revoke a licence granted to a licensee if (a) he has ceased to carry on the licensed business for a period of not less than six months; or (b) has contravened, or failed to comply with, any of the conditions subject to which the licence was granted or any provision of this Act.”
The Judge ruled that, “It is clear from the express provisions of this section that the Bank of Guyana has the power to revoke a licence. This power can be exercised where the licensee has ceased to carry on the licensed business for a particular period or has contravened or failed to comply with any of the conditions of the licence or any provision of the Act… In this Court’s considered view, this means that the circumstances as set out in s. 4 (1) must be maintained throughout the life of the licence and that any change in those circumstances would be a ground for the revocation of same. The appearance of the applicants on the SDN list would and has, in this Court’s view, negatively impacted whatever good character the applicants may have enjoyed prior to the imposition of the OFAC sanction and at the time they were issued the licence. To argue otherwise would be insincere.”
Having established that the applicants were no longer compliant with the provisions of the act, the court found that the bank had every right, and indeed an obligation, to consider the applicants’ sanctioned status and, as a consequence, was empowered to revoke the applicants’ licence on that ground.
“The revocation of the applicants’ licence by the Respondent was therefore done in accordance with the Dealers in Foreign Currency (Licensing) Act,” the Judge declared.
The Court agreed with the submissions of the Bank of Guyana that the applicants were guilty of undue delay in instituting the proceedings challenging the revocation of their licence since the proceedings were, without explanation, filed one year after the revocation and six months after the licence would have expired on December 31, 2024.

Costs to Central Bank
Against this backdrop, the High Court Judge dismissed the application of the Mohameds with costs to the Central Bank in the sum of $250,000, which is to be paid on or before April 10. During the proceedings, the applicants were represented by attorney Darren Wade and the Bank of Guyana by attorney Pauline Chase.
In its June 2024 statement, OFAC said the sanctions are related to the evasion of taxes on gold exports, noting that between 2019 and 2023, Mohamed’s Enterprise omitted more than 10,000 kilograms of gold from import and export declarations and avoided paying more than US$50 million in duty taxes to the Government of Guyana.
Since the imposition of the sanctions in June 2024, the Guyanese Government has suspended the licences of the Mohameds’ various businesses, highlighting that the US-sanctioned businessmen are a risk and a threat to Guyana’s financial stability, sovereignty and diplomacy. Subsequently, several Government entities and local businesses, including commercial banks, have cut ties with the Mohameds.
Over a year after the sanctions, the two Mohameds were indicted in October 2025 by a federal grand jury in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida on 11 criminal charges, including wire fraud, mail fraud, tax evasion and money laundering. The charges are linked primarily to alleged irregularities in gold exports to the US through their company, Mohamed’s Enterprise.
The US Government subsequently made a request for the father-and-son duo to be extradited to face the indictments. The Mohameds are currently out on $150,000 bail each, as they continue to fight their extradition. The case has been adjourned to March 12.
Meanwhile, since the OFAC sanctions, Azruddin Mohamed has founded a political party – We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) – and contested the 2025 elections, which earned him 16 seats in Guyana’s 65-member National Assembly and the position as the opposition leader.

US lobbyist
Only last week, it was reported that the WIN party had hired and paid some US$250,000 to a lobbyist firm to engage the US Government and businesses there.
According to filings with the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Wyoming-based LSG LLC is the consulting services firm that was hired by WIN. The US lobbyist firm filed its registration on February 24, 2026, in keeping with the DOJ’s Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
“The Registrant will advise the Foreign Principal in developing and cultivating its relationships within the United States Government and private sector,” LSG LLC said about the services it would provide to WIN.
The registration document names LSG LLC’s President, Stephen Payne, and Vice President, Logan Somera, as the persons who will render services directly in the interests of WIN.