U.S. sanctions on China Railway Construction Corporation won’t impact Guyana

Last Updated on Sunday, 10 August 2025, 15:58 by Writer

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Sunday said the United States Executive Order sanctions on China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) Limited would not have any impact on Guyana.

“No, Guyana has nothing to worry about,” Mr Jagdeo said when contacted by Demerara Waves Online News.

CRCCL, which was sanctioned as a result of executive orders by presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump, was contracted by the Guyana government to build the new US$260 million Demerara Harbour Bridge among other projects in Guyana.

The sanctions, listed on the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), prohibit U.S. companies, American citizens and U.S. permanent residents from engaging in any publicly traded securities, or any securities that are derivative of, or are designed to provide investment exposure to such securities, of any Communist Chinese military company.

Mr Jagdeo said the sanctions against the more than 60 companies, which the U.S. believes is linked to the Chinese military, are not the same as those against Azruddin Mohamed and his father Nazar “Shell” Mohamed for allegedly evading US$50 million in taxes that were payable to the Guyana government on more than 10,000 kilogrammes of gold. “It was very, very different than being sanctioned for corruption, bribery, gold smuggling and money laundering,” he said.

The now more than one-year-old OFAC sanctions on the Mohameds prohibits Americans or U.S. companies from doing business with them in any manner that can infect the U.S. financial sector.

Huawei, another Chinese company whose technologies are being used in the Guyana government’s closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance system and a number of telecoms companies, is also among the list of U.S.-sanctioned companies. The U.S. alleges that Huawei’s technology contains a military surveillance bug.