Mohameds hire U.S. lawyers in bid to lift OFAC sanctions

Last Updated on Thursday, 29 May 2025, 23:17 by Writer

Nazar “Shell” Mohamed, on Thursday, denied United States (U.S.) allegations that he and his son evaded more than US$50 million in taxes on over 10,000 kilogrammes of gold, saying that his lawyers were working to have the U.S. Treasury Department remove its now almost one-year-old sanctions.

“No, I haven’t, no,” he said.

“My lawyers are dealing with that right now, as we speak. I have an American lawyer. As a matter of fact, several lawyers who are dealing with this issue as we speak,” he told reporters in the compound of the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.

Mr Mohamed added that his lawyers were “definitely” working on having the sanctions quashed.

Before responding, Mr Nazar asked rhetorically: “Can you name me one person in this world who was very honest with their taxes? Just name me one person in the world and there are hundreds of people in this country who have been exporting gold. How come only Mohameds alone?”

However, his son, Azruddin, carefully responded when asked whether he had evaded the taxes that should have been paid to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).”No I don’t know about that,” he said when asked twice.

The Mohameds and their businesses, as well as the Permanent Secretary Mae Thomas, were sanctioned by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Ms Thomas was cited for the alleged award of contracts and the granting of firearm permits and passports on behalf of the Mohameds.

The sanctions were imposed on June 11, 2024. The Mohameds’ entities – Hadi’s World, Mohamed’s Enterprise and Team Mohamed’s Racing Team – were included in OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals list.

The U.S. alleged that the Mohameds 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 allegedly omitted more than 10 thousand kilograms of gold from import and export declarations and avoided paying more than US$50 million in duty taxes to the Government of Guyana.

OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons.

In addition, financial institutions and other persons that engage in certain transactions or activities with the sanctioned entities and individuals may expose themselves to sanctions or be subject to an enforcement action. The prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any designated person, or the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person.