Not just business; it’s serious national and international risks – Nandlall slams Mohamed for downplaying US sanctions

The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) executive Anil Nandlall has refuted claims that the sanctions imposed by the United States (US) against businessman Azruddin Mohamed only affect his businesses.
Mohamed, now a presidential hopeful, hinted at this on Monday when questioned by reporters after submitting his party’s list of candidates for the upcoming elections.

“I heard the argument that the sanctions only relate to the business. Now that is far from the truth. The sanction is personal, and it also relates to the businesses, and sanctions also have repercussions for relationships. For associations and those who associate with the sanctioned people or sanctioned organisations can also be sanctioned, and that’s clearly set out in the OFAC publications on this issue,” Nandlall highlighted on Tuesday evening during his programme ‘Issues in the News’.
On Monday, media operatives asked Mohamed if he is concerned about putting the country at risk by running for president as a US-sanctioned individual.
To this, he said, “The sanctions matter when it comes to my businesses, Mohamed’s Enterprise and Hadi’s World Incorporated,” adding that he is not putting Guyana at risk.
But 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.
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 thousand kilograms (kg) of gold from import and export declarations and avoided paying more than US$50 million in duty taxes to the Government of Guyana.
Nandlall also refuted Mohamed’s insinuation that the sanctions do not have any impact on Guyanese, noting that “any person who does business with a sanctioned person can be sanctioned.”
In fact, he said it is for this reason several founders of A New and United Guyana, including Ralph Ramkarran and Timothy Jonas, have distanced themselves from the party once it was announced that ANUG had joined Mohamed’s party, We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), to contest the 2025 General and Regional Elections.
“There is a saying that fools often wonder where wise men dare not go. I am not calling anybody fools, but I am drawing reference to that important proverb,” Nandlall said.
He further pointed to the geopolitical implications which must be considered given the significant contributions being made by the US in support of Guyana amid the border controversy with Venezuela.
“The US will not support a Government that its own Government has sanctioned, and there is a body of evidence somewhere in the Congress that has led congressmen and women to label the leader of WIN as a puppet of Maduro,” he explained.
Recently, US Congressman Carlos Gimenez expressed that “in the US Congress we are alarmed by the regime in Venezuela’s attempt to undermine Guyana through its pro-Maduro puppet candidate Azruddin Mohamed, who is sanctioned by OFAC.”
Additionally, United States Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar recently cautioned that “individuals sanctioned for illicit activities must not be allowed to jeopardise” the important Guyana-US relations.
Beyond the national and international implications, Nandlall highlighted the lack of clear policies coming from Mohamed’s party, especially from the businessman himself, who is putting himself forward for the presidency.
“It has often been said that he cannot string two sentences together, and you saw that for yourself throughout the past six or seven months, but you saw it (Monday) when he was confronted possibly for the first time by a number of reporters. Running a country and forming a Government and going to Parliament is not a show-boy thing, this is not wearing sunshade and fancy clothes and throwing money around that you have never worked for, this is representing people who are putting their trust and their lives and their livelihood in your hands, and they are expecting you – I mean they may be ignorant to think that you can do it but still, there is a duty that you owe and if you can’t deliver that you should not put yourself up,” Nandlall emphasised.
He was referring to Mohamed’s inability to answer any questions asked by reporters. Instead, the US-sanctioned businessman mumbled “very soon” and “very shortly” when repeatedly asked to share some of his plans for the country.