– Nandlall challenges US-sanctioned WIN leader to explain his federal indictments, sanctions to the citizens
ATTORNEY GENERAL and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, called on opposition leader U.S.-indicted Azruddin Mohamed to tell the Guyanese citizens why he is facing serious federal indictments abroad, underscoring it as a matter of national concern.
During Friday’s budget debate, the Attorney General said that when someone takes public office as a parliamentarian, especially as leader of the opposition, “then some aspect of your private business becomes our business, the people’s business and the public’s business.”
While further highlighting that the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) opposition built a platform on anti-corruption, Nandlall said, “When you do that, you must know that it is not a one-way street,” emphasising that accountability must go both ways.
It is in this regard that the Attorney General demanded: “I call upon him [opposition leader] to explain to this honourable house and by extension, the people of this country, why he was sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the United States of America.
“Accountability is not optional. He must come here and account to the people. He must come here and tell us. I call upon the honourable member to also explain why he’s a subject of federal indictments in the United States of America on serious charges of money laundering and fraud…”
In October last year, a federal grand jury in Miami returned an indictment charging the father and son with participating in a multi-year scheme to evade millions of dollars in taxes and royalties owed to the Government of Guyana through fraudulent gold export practices and related money laundering activities.
According to court documents, Nazar Mohamed, 72, and Azruddin Mohamed, 38, were owners of Mohamed’s Enterprise, a gold wholesaler and exporter in Guyana that sold gold to buyers in Miami and Dubai.
Guyanese authorities impose approximately a seven-per-cent tax and duty on exported gold. From about 2017 through at least 2024, the pair allegedly enriched themselves and defrauded the Government of Guyana by concealing the true quantity and value of gold exported by their company.
The indictment alleges that Mohamed’s Enterprise paid taxes and royalties on one shipment of gold to obtain official government seals, then reused those same seals on subsequent shipments to avoid paying additional taxes and royalties. Prosecutors further allege that empty boxes bearing Guyanese government seals were shipped from Dubai through Miami to Guyana and that bribes were paid to customs and other officials to facilitate the scheme.
In total, the pair allegedly exported at least 10,000 kilograms of gold through Miami, resulting in an estimated loss of approximately US$50 million to the Government of Guyana.
Nazar Mohamed is charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and mail fraud.
Azruddin Mohamed is charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud. The indictment also alleges that Azruddin Mohamed engaged in a separate scheme to evade more than US$1 million in Guyanese taxes in connection with the shipment of a Lamborghini from Miami to Guyana.
The indictment seeks forfeiture of approximately US$5.3 million in gold bars seized at Miami International Airport on June 11, 2024. Both men were sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control in June 2024.
The Attorney General further pointed out that the opposition leader is “strenuously resisting the expedition process as he’s entitled to do.”
But the Attorney General, he made it clear that he will continue doing all that is lawfully possible to ensure that the U.S-indicted businessman is accorded all the safeguards that the law and the Constitution guarantee to him.
“But I have to call upon him, in my capacity as a member of this house, to explain to the people of Guyana and this house why he’s unwilling to surrender, to go to the U.S., face his accusers and vindicate his innocence. I call upon him to do so…The people of Guyana deserve those explanations,” he said.
From the gold smuggling to tax evasion, Nandlall said: “These are serious and damning matters, and that is why we cannot play politics with national matters.
“ That’s what we were saying, and they [WIN] were saying that we were being political. We are saying that this is the highest representative institution in this country and when you come here, this is the, I have to say, I don’t want to sound immodest, this is the big league. If you are not qualified to represent the people of this country, don’t come here!”
