The Bank of Guyana (BoG) has rejected recent statements made by United States (US)-sanctioned businessman Azruddin Mohamed, making it clear that he misrepresented the advice given to him by the Governor of the Central Bank.

In a comment Saturday, the BoG said:
“We wish to clarify recent reports concerning the matter between Mr. Azuridin Mohamed and the Governor of the Bank of Guyana. Mr. Mohamed has misrepresented the facts on social media.”

The Bank clarified that at no point did Governor Gobind Ganga advise Mohamed to petition commercial banks to reinstate the accounts of members of his financial entity, WIN.

Rather, the Governor’s guidance was that Mohamed should withdraw his case filed against the commercial banks and their affiliates.

According to the Bank, such a withdrawal would have allowed the institutions to re-evaluate the accounts in question within the framework of their anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) risk assessments.

“The Governor advised Mr. Mohamed to withdraw his case against the commercial banks and affiliates to seek reevaluation of their money laundering/terrorist financing risks, which is the responsibility of the commercial banks,” the BoG said.

The Central Bank underscored that the decision to open, close or reinstate accounts lies solely with the individual commercial banks, which are bound to comply with national and international AML/CFT regulations.

This clarification comes after Mohamed had reportedly publicly claimed that the Central Bank Governor had recommended he write to the banks to reinstate the accounts.

The BoG’s statement directly contradicts that assertion, stressing that its role is to ensure that financial institutions comply with strict regulatory standards designed to safeguard the integrity of the financial system.

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 10,000 kilogrammes of gold from import-and-export declarations and avoided paying more than US$50 million in duty taxes to the Government of Guyana.”

Several local banks had severed ties with candidates of the US-sanctioned Mohamed’s political party, WIN, affirming that this action is aligned with their usual risk assessment procedures.