No ‘special’ investigation was done by APNU/AFC into gold smuggling – MNR

– requests Trotman to disclose parties involved in ‘intelligence-led operation’

Contrary to claims made by former Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman, the Ministry of Natural Resources has clarified that no “intelligence-led operation” to tackle gold smuggling was ever carried out by the former A Partnership for National Unity-Alliance for Change (APNU-AFC) government.
Following US-instituted sanctions against Guyanese gold dealers, coupled with the recent arrest of three smugglers at the country’s main international airport, Trotman had been quoted as claiming that a special operation initiated by the former regime to curb gold smuggling had been shut down by the PPP.
According to the Ministry, however, nothing could be further from the truth.
“Mr. Trotman cannot leave the nation in such suspense. He must disclose who was involved in this intelligence-led operation. Which law enforcement agency led this investigation? Why was no one charged in five years while they were in Government? Why has no report, or any information whatsoever in respect of this investigation, ever been made public? Why only now, nearly a decade after, the public is hearing of this information and investigation?

“For the public record, no such operation/investigation (was) discovered at the Office of the President in August 2020; and logically, there was no “shut down” of any such operation within five days of the Government taking office three and a half years ago, or at all. In the circumstances, we are forced to conclude that Raphael Trotman is enduring another flight of his usual fantasies,” the Ministry said in a statement of its own.
Earlier this month, two US citizens and one Guyanese were intercepted with US$560,000 worth of raw gold at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) at Timehri. They have subsequently been charged for exporting gold without a licence, in contravention of Section 8 of the Guyana Gold Board Act, Chapter 66:01, and contrary to section 23 (a) of the said Act. They have each been placed on $600,000 bail.
During a recent press conference, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo gave assurance that the trio would also face charges under Guyana’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) law.
Further, in recent sanctions imposed against Guyanese businessmen and gold dealers Nazar and Azruddin Mohamed and their associated businesses earlier this week, the United States has alleged that some 10,000 kilograms of gold had been smuggled out of this country between 2019 and 2023. The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which announced the sanctions on Tuesday, has alleged that by under-declaring their gold and evading the payment of taxes on exports, the Mohameds have defrauded the Guyana Government of more than US$50 million in duty taxes.

Held accountable
In the article that had featured Trotman, it has been claimed that former Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan had been briefed by the United States about gold being smuggled out of Guyana. According to the Ministry, however, officials from the former Government should be held accountable if they had indeed been briefed and had done nothing.
“The news article further stated that former Minister of Public Security, Mr Khemraj Ramjattan, was also made aware of a briefing from law enforcement agents out of the United States about gold smuggling out of Guyana. If indeed these former senior Government officials were made aware of the severity of the issue, then they should be held accountable. Mr. Trotman now wants to change the narrative with respect to the source of gold allegedly smuggled by referring to an operation involving Guyana, Venezuela and Colombia, although he mentioned the source as local gold production in the very news article in 2016,” the Ministry further said.
The Guyana Government has already indicated it is looking to strengthen its laws in order to institute stiffer financial penalties as a deterrent to gold smuggling. During his press conference, Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo pointed out that under the current Gold Board Act, the penalty for gold smuggling is “small”, and does not deter perpetrators. Jagdeo recently explained that smugglers are currently only asked to pay the estimated taxes they evaded by smuggling the mineral resource, but this is a small amount compared to the value of the gold smuggled.
“In this case, it’s estimated that the US$50M we lost is 7% of the total value of the gold, because that is the royalty, and tax rates amount to 7% of the value of the goods. If you had to pay triple the value on that, you’ll probably have to pay a penalty of 24% of the value of the gold, something of that nature [the government is looking to impose],” he has said.