Azruddin Mohamed vows to enter parliament as opposition leader, despite U.S. financial crimes indictment

Last Updated on Monday, 6 October 2025, 23:02 by Writer

The leader of We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), Azruddin Mohamed, on Monday said the United States (U.S.) grand jury indictment against him and his father Nazar “Shell” Mohamed on fraud and money laundering linked to gold smuggling and the purchase and importation of a luxury car would not stop him from taking up his post as the opposition leader.

“This has nothing to do with Parliament because I was never convicted and placed behind bars…I will go in there and represent the people. I won’t shy away from that,” he told Demerara Waves Online News.

With 16 seats, WIN is the largest opposition party ahead of the People’s National Congress Reform-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) which clinched 12 seats and Forward Guyana Movement (FGM) one.

Denying the allegations contained in an 11-count indictment, Mr Mohamed said he and his father would fight any extradition request by the U.S. “We are going to fight it here in the court. We are innocent,” he said.

He said they were advised by their lawyers that they have not allegedly violated any U.S. law and instead those alleged offences were committed in Guyana. “All these charges here have to try (sic) in front of the court here in Guyana because they are local matters,” he said. He vowed to exhaust all legal options because he said he did not commit any of those offences. “I’m going to defend myself vigorously because I’m innocent. I am innocent of all these charges and I know it’s heavily political with this administration,” he said. The People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) and the Guyana government have denied having any hand in the U.S.’ legal actions against the Mohameds.

The U.S. accuses the Mohameds of reusing empty boxes with intact Guyana Revenue Authority and Guyana Gold Board seals for “shipments of gold to make it appear that Mohamed’s Enterprise had paid Guyana taxes and royalties on shipments of gold when, in truth and in fact, Mohamed’s Enterprise had not paid them on those shipments of gold.”

The grand jury also accuses the Mohameds of paying bribes to Guyanese government officials, including customs officials to accept shipments of gold by Mohamed’s Enterprise with duplicate paperwork and reused GRA and GGB seals from Miami to Mohamed’s Enterprise office in Guyana thereby avoiding the proper payment of Guyanese taxes and royalties.

If convicted, the Mohameds face up to 20 years imprisonment, fines and asset forfeiture on several counts cited in the indictment.

Mr Azruddin Mohamed said despite the fact that he holds a 10 percent stake in Mohamed’s Enterprise, he was not the owner of the business and he never had anything to do with the exportation of gold to Dubai via Florida. While his father handled all gold exports, the younger Mohamed said he was responsible for cheque payments in his absence. “When all the gold is leaving the country, he is the one signing the shipments…I never signed any shipment so that’s why this thing is very personal as it relates to me,” he said.

The businessman cum politician did not believe that it was coincidental that the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) last Friday dispatched a claim for GY$34 million in outstanding income taxes for 2019-2023 – now GY$191.1 billion as a result of accrued interest – due to “untrue declarations” and the unsealing of the U.S. indictment on Monday.

Mr Mohamed is already facing criminal charges for tax evasion and a false declaration of the price of an imported Lamborghini luxury car. Mr Mohamed has also been cited in the U.S. grand jury indictment for financial crimes in connection with the purchase of that vehicle.

The WIN leader said the June 2024 sanctions imposed on himself and his father by the United States Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for alleged evasion of more than US$50 million on more than 10,000 kilogrammes of gold and Monday’s grand jury indictment were “personal” because the incumbent PPPC had considered him an emerging political threat. “All the lackeys and subprefects of the PPP knew of this before this was opened this (Monday) morning at 5 o’clock,” he said.

Mr Mohamed said the PPPC-led administration had paid about US$300,000 to American lobbyists to target him “because they see me as a threat in politics; this is the reason.”

In July, 2025, ahead of Guyana’s September 1, 2025 general and regional elections, two republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives had posted on X, formerly Twitter, targeting him. One of them, Carlos A. Gimenez had stated that, “In the U.S. Congress we are alarmed by the regime in Venezuela’s attempt to undermine #Guyana through its pro-Maduro puppet candidate Azruddin Mohamed, who is sanctioned by OFAC! The Western Hemisphere must remain a stronghold of freedom — not a breeding ground for communist dictatorships.” Mr Mohamed had denied those claims.

While the Mohameds had openly enjoyed a close relationship with the PPPC, even providing transportation and security to now President Irfaan Ali in the run-up to the 2020 general and regional elections and had even accompanied him on food distribution drives shortly after those polls, the WIN Leader said the ruling party had become increasingly worried that there might have been a political motive behind his assistance to the underprivileged in rural communities.