United States-sanctioned businessman Azruddin Mohamed on Monday announced that he will be joining the presidential race in Guyana’s upcoming General and Regional Elections on September 1. This announcement was made by Mohamed via a video shared on his “Team Mohameds” page on Facebook” on Monday. Only recently, Mohamed was charged for allegedly fraudulently under-declaring the value of a Lamborghini Aventador, which is currently at the centre of the dispute between the him and Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).
United States sanctioned businessman, Azruddin Mohamed
Earlier this month, the US Department of Justice, under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT), provided an original invoice for the Lamborghini Aventador, which was billed to Azruddin Mohamed himself, to the tune of US$695,000.
However, in his previous declarations to the court, Mohamed claimed to have spent US$76,000 on the luxury car. A difference of some US$619, 000.
In April, GRA officials, backed by police attempted to seize several luxury vehicles — including a Lamborghini Roadster, Ferrari, Rolls Royce, and Land Cruisers — from the Mohamed’s residence in Houston, Greater Georgetown. The operation was aborted after a hostile crowd, reportedly paid by Mohamed, blocked access to the premises.
GRA has said that the vehicles were imported under the re-migrant scheme, but failed to meet key requirements, including residency status and proper declaration of value. The total tax liability in the matter is estimated at nearly $900 million.
Among the outstanding amounts are: $479.7 million for a 2020 Ferrari registered to Hana Mohamed; $371.7 million for the Lamborghini tied to Azruddin Mohamed; $320 million for a 2023 Rolls Royce registered to Bibi Mohamed and additional millions linked to a Range Rover and Toyota Land Cruisers under various family names.
Security guards tortured
The businessman is no stranger to law enforcement. Back in 2010, three security guards were reportedly tortured for several hours, after being accused of stealing a quantity of items from Mohamed Enterprises on Lombard Street, Georgetown where they worked.
Tortured security guards: Bansgopaul Sookhraj, Imtiaz Bacchus and Ousman Boodhoo Sahadeo whom Nazar Mohamed, publicly apologised for the way his son Azruddin Mohamed and employees treated them
According to a Stabroek News article dated November 24, 2010, security supervisor, 63-year-old Bansgopaul Sookhraj, Imtiaz Bacchus and Ousman Boodhoo Sahadeo alleged they were repeatedly “struck with a baseball bat, had soapy water poured into their mouths and were gagged and bound with scotch tape before being threatened not to report the matter”.
The men alleged that they were brutalised by four or five persons, one after the other.
Sookhraj reportedly bore the brunt of the assault. An X-ray revealed that both of his hands were broken. His head was visibly swollen, and he found it unbearable to stand or walk. According to a medical report obtained from the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC), Bacchus sustained five fractured ribs and a severely swollen right foot. Sahadeo, known as ‘Fat Boy,’ had black-and-blue bruises on both arms, difficulty hearing, and impaired vision in his swollen left eye.
A few weeks later, on December 3, 2010, Stabroek News published a follow-up report indicating that two employees of Mohamed’s Enterprise were either dismissed or suspended due to their involvement in the beating and torture of the three security guards, an action confirmed by the company’s owner, Nazar Mohamed, who publicly apologised for the incident.
The publication indicated that it was Nazar Mohamed who contacted Stabroek News and “repeatedly stressed that he was devastated when he read about the incident in the newspaper, emphasising that at the time, he was overseas”.
According to the newspaper, the businessman also apologised for the way his son and employees handled the matter when approached for a comment.
His son’s knowledge of the matter, as owner of the business alleging the theft, was never discussed.
No legal repercussions resulted from the complaint either, as the newspaper reported that the three men accepted hefty sums to drop the matter after they said, they were approached by a lawyer at the police station where the sums were agreed upon after a discussion.
US sanctions
In 2024, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had announced that it sanctioned Nazar Mohamed and his son, Azruddin Mohamed, several of their companies, and a Guyanese Government official, Mae Thomas, for their roles in alleged public corruption in Guyana.
According to a statement from OFAC, this is 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.
