Warnings on US-sanctioned Mohamed are about national risk, not politics – AG

The various warnings being issued about United States-sanctioned Azruddin Mohamed are about national risks, not politics, according to Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall.
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, with OFAC 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.
Mohamed has since launched a political party called ‘We Invest in Nationhood’ (WIN) and is running as the presidential candidate. The party has been approved by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to contest the General and Regional Elections on September 1.
OFAC sanctions are economic and trade sanctions imposed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. These sanctions target specific foreign countries, regimes, individuals, and entities deemed to pose a threat to U.S. national security, foreign policy, or economy. OFAC sanctions can involve blocking assets, trade restrictions, and prohibitions on certain financial transactions.
Already, US Ambassador to Guyana Nicole Theriot has warned about the consequences if Mohamed enters Parliament. Such a development, she noted, would have implications for government-to-government relations as well as the private sector of both countries.
President Dr Irfaan Ali had already warned that Mohamed is a threat to Guyana’s financial stability, sovereignty, and diplomacy.
In fact, a number of commercial banks in Guyana have already cut ties with Mohamed and candidates of his political party to ensure their organisations comply with regulations of the international financial sector as it relates to sanctioned individuals.

Not about Politics
During his weekly programme “Issues in the News” on Tuesday evening, Nandlall emphasised the US-sanctioned businessman is not a normal competitor.
“This is a person, if he is elected, will expose the country to harm. He has already been exposing the people associated with him to harm. Visas have already been revoked. Persons are being questioned at the airports…Look how many persons have lost their bank accounts…,” he explained.
Referring to the actions taken by the local banks to shut down the personal accounts of WIN candidates, the AG pointed out that the financial system is interconnected and once there is a threat, it will contaminate the entire structure.
This, he noted, is how the AML/CFT framework operates.
“As Minister of Legal Affairs, I hold responsibility for that sector. Our system was already contaminated once when we were blacklisted because of the APNU+AFC one-seat majority being used to vote down important bits of legislation that we needed to strengthen our financial system. The Guyanese financial system is not unaware of how sanctions operate,” the AG reminded.
Against this backdrop, Nandlall contended that the warnings being issued about the US-sanctioned businessman are not about politics, but national implications.
“I am not saying this because I want to interfere with the outcome of an election. Whoever wins the election, these are the consequences that you will have to face if sanctioned people are elected. You can say what you want to say about that. That is a fact,” he asserted.
“What we are speaking about here is not about influencing elections. Mohamed has already qualified to contest the elections. He satisfies all the requirements and he will be contesting the elections [but] every Guyanese has a duty, in my respectful view, to speak about the possible consequences that will flow if he is anywhere close to the Government of Guyana…And we have to deal with that reality. No amount of sugar coating will change that,” he further posited.