ANYONE who did not know that Azruddin Mohamed and his father would have been charged in the US lacked common sense.
I refer to my article of Saturday, August 30, 2025, titled, “The things Guyanese have to know about Mohamed.” I should reproduce that article in full, but I will quote extensively from it because now that father and son have been charged, the August column is pungently relevant.
Here is what I wrote on August 30 this year: “The hidden dimension of the sanctions has been completely obfuscated. The sanctions have taken on a life of their own, and no one is looking for that hidden dimension. The position that Guyanese have taken is that Mohamed has been exposed by the American Government for evading duties on the export of gold. That cannot be the whole story. The US cannot monitor and will not monitor tax evasion in the 193 countries that make up the United Nations.
“That is a logistical impossibility, and such surveillance of countries’ economies to see the shape of tax evasion in these countries is something the US is not interested in doing. It makes no sense to past and present governments of the US to check to see which business companies in those 193 countries are evading taxes.
“The US will research the exports of those 193 countries into the US to see how those exports are violating US laws if the American Government has information that those exports are not above the law. But it will not put sanctions on that company feeling that it is not the US’ business.
“Why would any human in Guyana and Guyanese elsewhere think or even believe that the US is so devoted to Guyana that it did a laudable thing and exposed tax evasion by a Guyanese citizen? The Treasury Department found out something about Mohamed’s gold exports to the US and began probing those exports.
“US authorities believe that gold exports by Mohamed were a front for Venezuelan gold. US authorities believe that Maduro was evading sanctions on Venezuela’s gold industry through Mohamed’s exports
“It is this position of the US Treasury Department that led to the harsh treatment of Mohamed. The US is convinced that Mohamed and Maduro are involved in sanction breaking. This is the story of the sanctions against Mohamed. Do not believe or accept the explanation that Mohamed is in trouble because the US found out he was under-invoicing and told the Guyana Government.”
This has been a very long quote, but it was essential to establish the point that the Mohameds were being investigated for breaking US laws not Guyana’s laws. Why did it take the US so long to charge the Mohameds?
Because the US wanted to avoid the Jack Warner mistake in Trinidad where the courts ruled out extradition of Warner based on porous evidence the US presented to the Trinidad courts.
The US waited because it wanted to have solid evidence that would stand up in a Guyana court, and I think logical deduction should make us think that the US has strong evidence against the Mohameds. The next step now will be the Guyana courts’ examination of the extradition papers submitted by the US Treasury Department.
Guyana and the US have an extradition treaty, so once the Guyana courts rule against the Mohameds then that is the end of the story. What has not been made public so far in the tax evasion case is the failed negotiations between the Mohameds and the Americans in Barbados.
My understanding is that the amount in restitution the US was asking was huge, but that was not the problem for the Mohameds. The US wanted a jail sentence, but that was non-negotiable. One of the considerations in rejecting imprisonment is the age of the senior Mohamed. He is in his mid-seventies. Unfortunately, it has come to the point where both son and father will now face extradition.
This is going to be one of the most absorbing court cases in the history of both British Guiana and Guyana. There is going to be a battery of foreign based lawyers for the Mohamed, but not American lawyers because they are not accredited to practise in the Guyana courts.
I think this is going to be a very technical case in which the state will try to match the talent of the overseas attorneys. The complex financial data will be the crucial test for the Americans.
They have to establish with concrete evidence that the Mohameds broke American laws for the purpose of criminal intentions. Both the judge and the local lawyers for the state and the Mohameds will have celebrity status waiting for them.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.