US-sanctioned Azruddin Mohamed on $500K bail over Lamborghini tax fraud charges

United States sanctioned-businessman, Azruddin Mohamed, was placed on $500,000 bail for tax evasion and fraudulent declaration charges in relation to the purchase of his luxury vehicle – a Lamborghini Roadster SVJ.
Mohamed appeared before acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty on Thursday morning at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, where he answered to the two charges brought by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), false declaration to the Guyana Revenue Authority and fraudulent tax evasion.
The first charge alleged that the 39-year-old on or about December 7, 2020, caused to be made and subscribed, a false declaration to the GRA when he stated on the GRA’s custom declaration form that the purchased amount for the Lamborghini was US$75,300, instead of the true purchase price of US$695,000.
The second charge accuses Mohamed of, on the same date, fraudulently declaring to the Revenue Authority US$75,300 as the purchase price for the luxury vehicle thus resulting in the sum of $383,383,345 in taxes being evaded.
Mohamed, who is also currently facing sanctions by the United States Government over gold smuggling and tax evasion allegations, pleaded not guilty to both charges.
His lawyers, Attorneys Damian Da Silva, Siand Dhurjon and Darren Wade, questioned the timing of the charges, noting that the vehicle has been in use since 2020 but GRA only brought up these issues in March 2025.
Attorney Da Silva in a bail application requested that the businessman, a father of five of Houston Estates, Greater Georgetown, be released on his own recognisance, stating that he is not a flight risk and is a public figure who is contesting in the upcoming general and regional elections.
In response, the prosecutor for GRA, Attorney Sanjeev Datadin, requested that bail be set especially since this is a criminal matter and given that the taxes evaded run into millions of dollars. He also counter argued that the GRA is statutorily empowered to investigate and prosecute fraudulent declarations made to the tax agency.
“The Guyana Revenue Authority is entitled by statute to collect taxes. And if you have declared falsely, and the Revenue Authority has reasons to believe that it is fraudulent, then it is empowered, by statute, to act as it has done,” Datadin outlined.
Nevertheless, the GRA prosecutor indicated to the court that he has no objections to bail being granted to the businessman once a sum was set.
In determining bail, Magistrate McGusty indicated that while she does not believe the defendant is a flight risk, persons of lesser means have been placed on cash bail. Consequently, bail was granted to the tune of $250,000 for each of the two charges.
The matter will be called again on June 26.
It was previously reported that these charges were filed by the GRA after it obtained evidence from the United States Department of Justice (DoJ).
GRA Commissioner, Godfrey Statia, had written the US authorities for information on the purchase of the luxury vehicle.
Earlier this month, the DoJ, under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT), provided the Guyanese Tax collection body with an original invoice for the Lamborghini, which was billed to Azruddin Mohamed himself, to the tune of US$695,000. This was also corroborated by documents obtained by GRA from a local bank that showed wire transfers from Mohamed’s account to the US seller.
The Revenue Authority and Mohamed are currently embroiled in legal proceedings in the High Court. The GRA filed the matter to recover the outstanding taxes owned by the businessman.
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.
Mohamed subsequently obtained a High Court order to block the seizure of the luxury vehicles. Only earlier this month, the Court of Appeal had refused GRA’s application to overturn the High Court ruling that had placed an injunction on the tax agency from seizing the luxury vehicles owned by the Mohamed family.
Meanwhile, the Mohamed family is currently under sanction by the US Government. Back 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.