Jagdeo hints that U.S. likely wants Azruddin Mohamed

Last Updated on Saturday, 26 July 2025, 20:16 by Writer

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Bharrat Jagdeo on Friday signaled that Leader of the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) political party, Azruddin Mohamed might be wanted by the United States (U.S.).

“I saw he said ‘I think the U.S. will remove the sanction if I win the election’. That’s what he is saying. Well, the only way he is going into the U.S. is if he is taken there and I suspect they may very well take him there for other reasons,” Mr Jagdeo, who is also Guyana’s 2nd Vice President, told a PPP election campaign meeting at Tarla Dam, Meten-Meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara.

The WIN Leader up to earlier this week maintained that “I don’t know anything about that” when he was asked to react to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) that he allegedly evaded more than US$50 million in taxes from the Guyana government on more than 10,000 kilogrammes of undeclared gold exports. The billionaire businessman said he was optimistic that his lawyers in the U.S. would succeed in getting the sanctions lifted.

Referring to Azruddin and his father Nazar “Shell” Mohamed, Mr Jagdeo said, “we can’t put the future of this country at risk. They were nowhere in 2020 and he will not be anywhere after September 1st.”

Mr Jagdeo’s view that the U.S. might be interested in Mr Mohamed came one day after Guyana’s Attorney General Anil Nandlall met with representatives of U.S. law enforcement agencies to discuss the pending extradition of a number of persons.

Mr Nandlall reportedly met with U.S. Justice Department Senior Inspector at the United States Marshals Service Sandy Rao, and Regional Security Officer at the U.S. Embassy, Timothy Semons.

While the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR)-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) is the main opposition political party, in recent weeks the PPPC has been attacking WIN more on the campaign trail. Though confident that the PPPC would win the September 1 general and regional elections comfortably, that party has been warning supporters that WIN, Alliance For Change and APNU have been conspiring to reduce the PPPC to a minority government.

The U.S. Ambassador to Guyana Nicole Theriot earlier this week said the American government was usually concerned when an OFAC-sanctioned person could be elected as the U.S. would have to be careful about working with a parliamentary committee that includes such a person. Further, she said the election of a sanctioned person to government or the opposition could dampen or even scare away U.S. investors.

The locally-owned Demerara Bank Limited earlier this week closed several accounts of persons who are associated with WIN, citing a risk assessment and the need to comply with international anti-money laundering rules.