Jagdeo instructs GRA, police probe gov’t officials for Mohameds gold smuggling allegations link

Last Updated on Thursday, 16 October 2025, 20:22 by Writer

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday said the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) must launch a probe into suspected corrupt government officials linked to alleged gold smuggling by city businessmen Azruddin Mohamed and his father Nazar “Shell” Mohamed.

“The GRA, the police, must immediately start the investigation of all of those corrupt officials who collaborated, and the Gold Board, who collaborated with the Mohameds in smuggling the gold in every period, in the APNU period as well as the period under the PPP,” Mr Jagdeo told a news conference.

In announcing that the Mohameds were sanctioned for allegedly evading more than US$50 million in taxes payable to the government on the export of more than 10,000 kilogrammes of gold, the United States’ Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had alleged that Mohamed’s Enterprise had bribed customs officials to falsify import and export documents, as well as to facilitate illicit gold shipments. OFAC further alleged that Mohamed’s Enterprise had paid bribes to Guyanese government officials to ensure the undisrupted flow of inbound and outbound personnel that move currency and other items on behalf of Azruddin and Mohamed’s Enterprise. The U.S. government also accused Mohamed’s Enterprise of paying bribes to corrupt Guyanese government officials to facilitate the award of government contracts.

No government official has so far been charged with any offence linked to the accusations against the Mohameds.

Except for charges of making a false customs declaration and evasion of taxes, so far the Mohameds have not been charged locally with any criminal offence. They were, however, indicted by a U.S. grand jury on 11 counts of fraud and money laundering linked to gold shipments and the purchase of a Lamborghini luxury car.

The U.S. could request their extradition to face trial and, if convicted, sentenced to lengthy prison terms, fines and asset forfeiture.

Mr Jagdeo on Thursday said former Chairman of the Guyana Gold Board, GHK Lall, a known critic of the government in his print media columns, could be among those to be questioned. “The time is now and I expect that a full-fledged investigation would be launched into those people from the Gold Board, including GHK Lall, and others who may have been complicit in assisting the Mohameds to (allegedly) evade the massive sum of taxes,” the Vice President said.

He reminded that the GRA has already dispatched an income tax assessment to the Mohameds for GY$191 billion including penalties. “The GRA has now acted. Let’s see the defenders about rule of law and they are cleaner than (a) whistle,” he said.