Last Updated on Tuesday, 11 July 2023, 18:22 by Denis Chabrol
A Guyanese gold miner is wanted by Brazilian Federal Police for allegedly being involved in laundering at least US$16.9 million (R$80 million) from illegal gold sales through shell companies in Brazil, according to reports in the neighbouring South American nation.
Head of the Guyana Police Force’s Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), Assistant Commission Fazil Karimbaksh told Demerara Waves Online News that Brazil has not asked his law enforcement unit for help and that the man was never on his radar. However, records show that the man was named during a multi-million dollar raw gold robbery in Gordon Street, Kitty, Georgetown in 2021 and a number of other criminal activities.
Federal Police on June 7, 2023 said they launched Operation Vanglória, with the objective of investigating suspects of using shell companies to move the money. Authorities there said three search and seizure warrants issued by the 4th Federal Criminal Court of the Federal Court in Roraima were executed.
Police said the investigations began after receiving information linking the Guyanese businessman who is a gold miner in Guyana.
The Organised Crime and Reporting Project reports that police want to determine whether the metal was illicitly taken from Guyana-based mines or from Brazilian indigenous areas.
Brazilian Federal police said their investigation indicates that the suspect was the owner of a company that, on paper, sells foodstuffs. However, at the address, in Manaus, Amazonas, there is only one vehicle shop with another listing on Brazil’s National Registry of Legal Entities (CNPJ).
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