–Yearwood emphasises, says US sanctions will collide with WIN/ANUG’s political ambitions

FORMER founding member of A New and United Guyana (ANUG), Jonthan Yearwood, has emphasised that there will be serious consequences for persons within his former party since it is now associated with the U.S.-sanctioned Azruddin Mohamed’s We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party.

Yearwood shared this view during his recent appearance on the Freddie Kissoon show, which also featured Chairman of ANUG, Dr Mark France and former Georgetown Mayor Ubraj Narine.
Despite Mohamed’s previous claim that he will not coalesce with another party, and Dr France’s recent assertion that his party would not take funds from Mohamed, a new alliance has been formed.

According to a press release, the two parties have joined forces under the “WIN” banner to contest the upcoming General and Regional Elections. This essentially means, they will both now identify as WIN.

Immediately after the announcement of this alliance, founding members of ANUG, Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran and Timothy Jonas announced their resignations from the party.
It is widely known that Nazar Mohamed, his son Azruddin and their businesses, namely Mohamed’s Enterprise, Hadi’s World and Team Mohamed’s Racing, on June 11, 2024, were sanctioned by U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which oversees sanctions against individuals and entities tied to illicit activities and hostile foreign governments.
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 10,000 kilogrammes (kg) of gold from import and export declarations and avoided paying more than US$50 million in duty taxes to the Government of Guyana.

Since the announcement of the partnership between ANUG and WIN, there have been many questions, especially as it relates to the wider implications.
Although Dr France, during the Freddie Kissoon Show insisted that ANUG will have no financial dealings with the Mohameds, Yearwood underscored that it is about perception and exposure that comes with partnering with sanctioned individuals.

He made it clear that when you stand beside a sanctioned individual, your financial trail and even that of your families and friends will be placed under a microscope.
While underscoring that proximity alone draws scrutiny, Yearwood further elaborated on the grave implications if WIN were to somehow assume office, and stated that the financial systems that control access to loans, investment, and cross-border transactions will not wait to analyse the fine print of Guyanese political arrangements.
Meaning, the international financial risk would skyrocket.

Yearwood said: “Let us assume that WIN/ANUG becomes the government, they now have access to billions and billions and billions of Guyana dollars to do whatever projects. That’s finance. How do you function with that when you have been sanctioned financially by the U.S. government?”

Despite clear warnings from the U.S. State Department and the Treasury, and despite the fact that U.S. sanctions stemmed from an investigation that was ongoing for years, with a high evidentiary threshold, WIN is barrelling ahead to the September 1, 2025 General and Regional Elections.

Yearwood emphasised that if ANUG’s leadership believes that Guyana’s domestic law will shield them from the consequences of affiliation with sanctioned individuals, they are miscalculating.
Former Mayor Narine also expressed skepticism about a political alliance with Mohamed, noting that he is safeguarding his family and would stick with his party, the People’s National Congress/Reform.

U.S. officials, Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar and Congressman Carlos Gimenez have also warned Guyana about the threats that sanctioned persons pose to the nation’s democracy and sovereignty.