Sanctions on Mohameds, PS: Guyana must resubmit request for info to Department of Justice – US

…discusses mutual legal assistance process

The Guyana Government is now being asked to have its Attorney General write the United States’ Department of Justice (DoJ) for the information it requested in relation to gold smuggling and public corruption allegations against two prominent Guyanese businessmen and a senior government official.

On June 11, the US Department of the Treasury issued sanctions against businessman, Nazar Mohamed, and his son, Azruddin Mohamed, along with Permanent Secretary at the Labour Ministry, Mae Thomas, over these allegations.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Mohameds along with their companies: Mohamed’s Enterprise; its subsidiary Hadi’s World; and Team Mohamed’s Racing Team, for their alleged roles in gold smuggling and public corruption in Guyana. It also accused Mohamed’s Enterprise of smuggling some 10,000 kilogrammes of gold out of the country between 2019-2023 thus avoiding paying more than US$50 million in duty taxes to the Government of Guyana.
With regards to PS Thomas, who was previously at the Home Affairs Ministry and has been sent on leave from her current position at the Labour Ministry, the OFAC alleged that she used her position to offer benefits to Mohamed’s Enterprise and the Mohameds in exchange for cash payments and high-value gifts. They also accused her of misusing her position to influence the award of official contract bids and the approval processes for weapons permits and passports on behalf of Mohamed’s Enterprise.

Immediately following these sanctions, the Guyana Government had written the US authorities requesting the relevant information be shared with local law enforcements to facilitate their own investigations.
These requests were sent by Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh to the US Department of the Treasury, and by the Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), Godfrey Statia, under the ambit of the Tax Information Exchange Agreement between Guyana and the US.
In a recent statement, Minister Singh explained that they have remained in close contact with the US authorities since then and on Wednesday, they were told additional requests would have to be made.

“Earlier today, we were updated by our US partners that a request should now be sent from the office of the Attorney General to the US Department of Justice, who will then work with OFAC to gather source documentation on the matter,” the Wednesday night missive from the Finance Minister detailed.
According to Dr Singh, they were further advised by the US officials that while this could be “a long process,” it should be aided by the fact that both Guyana and the US are signatories to the Inter-American Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance.
He added too that additional information was also shared with Guyana on the mutual legal assistance process to be undertaken.
“Our Government will now submit the request following the process advised,” the Finance Minister stated, adding “We will also continue to pursue, through the appropriate channel, the obtention of relevant information covered by the Tax Information Exchange Agreement.”
This Agreement provides for the exchange of information to administer and enforce laws concerning the taxes specified therein, to assure the accurate assessment and collection of taxes to prevent fiscal fraud and evasion, and to develop improved information sources for tax matters.
In addition to the mutual legal assistance process, Dr Singh said Government expects that the arrangements in place for exchange of tax information and cooperation between tax authorities will provide a means through which relevant information can be shared on matters of this nature in a timely and effective manner.
“We will continue to work closely with all our US counterparts in order to advance this matter in the most thorough and expeditious manner possible. This update is being provided in keeping with our commitment to ensure that this matter is managed with the highest level of transparency,” the Finance Minister posited.
Two weeks ago, US Ambassador to Guyana, Nicole Theriot, told reporters that she has passed on the requests by the Guyanese Government for information and also recommended that they be expedited.
“I strongly recommended to our partners back in Washington that they provide as much of that information as possible because I understand that the government here wants to do their own investigation and follow up on this. They’re also incredibly concerned about this corruption… So, I did ask [the Treasury Department] though, to expedite it, because I think it’s very important for the government of Guyana to have that information so that they can take next steps… because we want to be very transparent. The Government of Guyana has been very transparent with us and we want to do the same in return,” the US Ambassador had noted.
In light of these sanctions imposed by the US, the Guyana Government has since announced a series of steps taken to protect the country’s financial systems including the revocation of the cambio license issued to the Mohameds.
During a press conference last week, President Dr Irfaan Ali pointed out that while preliminary analysis shows that there have been no implications from these sanctions, measures have, nevertheless, been taken to axe the Mohameds’ connections with state agencies and other institutions.
“Everything is suspended for that company – they can’t transaction… Everything is suspended; all their transactions with the Gold Board… What you need to understand that the substance of the sanctions which is doing business and integrating of the business, has been adhered to… So, all other [state] agencies, in keeping with the sanctions… would’ve ended or pause relationships [with the Mohameds]” Ali indicated last Thursday.
Moreover, the Head of State went onto defend the decision to revoke the Mohameds’ cambio licence when they are still to act on their gold exportation and mining licences – which were the subject of the US sanctions.
According to President Ali, the relevant state agencies are currently in the process of dealing with those licences. He explained that while that process has been activated, there is due diligence that has to be followed which would necessitate Guyana getting the information it requested from the US authorities.