–which safeguarded themselves from risks of being associated with sanctioned individuals

LEGITIMATE businesses that have taken action to safeguard themselves against the repercussions of US sanctions are now the subject of attacks from US-sanctioned businessman and leader of We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), Azruddin Mohammed.

It was reported recently that the Demerara Bank, Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI), and Citizens Bank have started closing the accounts of WIN candidates after conducting various risk assessments.

Despite the widely reported risks of association with sanctioned individuals, Mohamed, through his party, has chastised two of those institutions for their move, which involves taking precautions and safeguarding their operations.

In a statement on the Team Mohamed Facebook page, he labelled the reputable institutions as corporate footstools of the PPP/C and warned them, specifically Demerara Bank and GBTI: “This atrocity will not go unanswered.”

The statement went on to note: “WIN calls on all freedom-loving Guyanese, of all races and classes, to stand in resistance against this creeping authoritarianism. If we do not act now, we may soon find ourselves in a nation where elections are a farce, opposition is criminalised, and corporations act as the police of the ruling party.

“As a first step, we call on all Guyanese to boycott: Demerara Bank, Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI), Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) and all their goods and services, The Beharry Group and all its subsidiaries, goods, and services, KFC, and Pizza Hut.”

Mohamed has since faced backlash online for this move, as persons have even pointed out that ordinary individuals are facing repercussions for being on the party’s list while his sister Hana and her husband Max Dmitriyev are not listed as candidates for WIN.

Mohamed— who created and is the face of WIN— along with his father, Nazar Mohamed and their businesses, namely Mohamed’s Enterprise, Hadi’s World and Team Mohamed’s Racing, on June 11, 2024, were sanctioned by the US 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.

In a June 2024 statement, the OFAC stated, “Azruddin and Mohamed’s Enterprise evaded Guyana’s tax on gold exports and defrauded the Guyanese government of tax revenues by under-declaring their gold exports to Guyanese authorities.

Between 2019 and 2023, Mohamed’s Enterprise omitted more than 10 thousand kilogrammes of gold from import-and-export declarations and avoided paying more than US$50 million in duty taxes to the Government of Guyana.”

In August last year, the Bank of Guyana confirmed that all banks in Guyana have closed accounts they had with the Mohamed family and their businesses following US sanctions for their alleged roles in public corruption.

It was widely reported that persons associated with sanctioned individuals also stand the risk of being severely affected.

Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo had explained: “The fact is that [if] the banks in Guyana …lose two things [including] access to the SWIFT, they are at serious risk of being shut out of the global financial system.”

SWIFT, which stands for Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, is a messaging system that financial institutions use to securely send and receive information, such as payment instructions, about international transactions. A SWIFT code, also known as a Bank Identifier Code (BIC), is a unique code that identifies a specific bank or financial institution.

Further, United States Ambassador to Guyana Nicole Theriot voiced serious concerns over the potential inclusion of Mohamed within Guyana’s government, warning that such a development is “concerning” and could have far-reaching diplomatic and economic consequences.

It could have ripple effects on US investment and business confidence in Guyana.
“When you see an OFAC-sanctioned individual become a part of an official within a government, it sends concern through the private sector of the United States. So, you see US companies are often rethinking their relationships in the country. We’ve seen it in Afghanistan and other countries’ companies … they look to de-risk or even cut ties. And we’re in such a beautiful position right now. All these US companies want to come to Guyana. I don’t want that to change,” Theriot explained.