United States Ambassador to Guyana, Nicole Theriot, says that having a US-sanctioned person in government doesn’t augur well for diplomatic or private sector relations with her country and its businesses, as would be the case if WIN candidate, Azruddin Mohamed, should gain government representation.
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“We are concerned, anytime the US Department of Treasury, OFAC [Office of Foreign Assets Control]-sanctioned individual has the potential to become a Member of Government, that is concerning for us, that is problematic in multiple ways, because the way that we as the US Government can interact with the Government, we have to be very careful, if that person is involved, let us say he is on a certain Committee, we would have to ensure that when we work with that committee we don’t work with him specifically,” Theriot said yesterday morning when asked about Mohamed who is running for President.
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On June 11, 2024, the United States Department of The Treasury imposed sanctions on Mohamed and his father Nazar Mohamed over the alleged massive smuggling of gold. Then Permanent Secretary Mae Toussaint Jr Thomas, was cited for alleged corruption leading to her being immediately sent on leave by the government here.
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Allegations against the Mohameds include defrauding the government here of some US$50 million in taxes from smuggled gold, as well as bribing public officials.
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OFAC – a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the US Treasury Department – designated Azruddin Mohamed and Mohamed’s Enterprise “for being persons who have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery, that is conducted by a foreign person.”
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OFAC also designated Nazar Mohamed as being “a foreign person who is or has been a leader or official of Mohamed’s Enterprise, an entity whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 13818, as a result of activities related to Nazar’s tenure.”
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As for Toussaint Jr Thomas, OFAC designated her as being “a foreign person who is a current or former government official, or a person acting for or on behalf of such an official, who is responsible for or complicit in, or has directly or indirectly engaged in, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery.”
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In July of last year, Attorney General Anil Nandlall SC informed that the Government of Guyana had written to the United States Department of Justice, for information it said it needs on the sanctions placed on the trio.
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Requests were sent by
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Office of the President with responsibility for Finance and Public Service
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ni Singh, and the
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General of the
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Statia, under the Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) between Guyana
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Another month would pass and in August of last year, the Attorney General updated that the US Department of Justice had acknowledged Guyana’s request for information related to sanctions but indicated that obtaining the requested details would take some time.
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In April, Nandlall explained there had been back and forth communication between US law enforcement authorities since the request, and while information sharing is still ongoing, there is enough information for authorities here to act on. “That process has thus far yielded a sufficient volume of information that the tax authority feels and the law enforcement agencies, in Guyana feel, provide sufficient basis for them to begin their statutory processes…,” he said.
Over two months after moving to the Supreme Court to strip seven ‘Pradoville 2’ land allottees including former president Bharrat Jagdeo of the ownership of the plots they controversially obtained in 2010, the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) has filed two more matters.
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SARA filed suit to recover the lands from Jagdeo, former Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee, former Housing Minister Shaik Baksh, Lisaveta Ramotar, who is the daughter of former president Donald Ramotar, businessman Ramesh Dookhoo, former Carib-bean Development Bank (CDB) president Professor Compton Bourne, and Florrie Loretta Ramnauth in late February.
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Attorneys for SARA are arguing that the allocation of lands at ‘Pradoville
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was an act of fraud
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of the Constitution.
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ing and or
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Court may deem
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the Court deems just
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and costs.
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A special investigation of the housing development, which was part of a larger probe of the financial operations of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) revealed that the allocation of the land was a clandestine arrangement that was handled personally by then PPP/C Housing Minister Irfaan Ali. It was concluded that a criminal case for misfeasance could be made against the PPP/C Cabinet members who benefitted.
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The Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), after months of investigation, late last year charged Ali with 19 counts of conspiracy to defraud for his alleged role in the allocations.
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The forensic audit, which was completed in the latter part of 2015, found that lots of varying sizes were allocated to six Cabinet members – Jagdeo, then Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon and then ministers Priya Manickchand, Dr Jennifer Westford, Robert Persaud and Rohee – along with other persons with connections to the then government. Among the other beneficiaries are Director of Public Prosecutions Shalimar Ali-Hack and former Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force, Gary Best.
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The forensic audit found that awardees grossly underpaid for the lots by a total of nearly $250 million, while the state-owned National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), the National Communications Network and the Guyana Power and Light Inc, were never reimbursed for millions spent to execute preparatory works. According to SARA, NICIL/Privatisation Unit spent between $71.4 million and $85.1 million on development works in the scheme
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In one of the cases filed against Jagdeo, SARA said that the former president, by bypassing the legally required process for the passing of Title to Parcel 246 Plantation Goedverwagting, East Coast Demerara, was in “breach of his fiduciary duties and the Laws of Guyana.”
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It claims that Ali committed an act of dishonesty and engaged in fraudulent conduct by requesting and or instructing the transfer of the title to Jagdeo, “when he was aware or ought properly to have been aware that the CH&PA was not the registered proprietor.”
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SARA also criticised the then Cabinet for allocating land to a privileged group “instead of for the benefit of the greatest number of Guyanese.”
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One of Jagdeo’s two plots measures 1.5 acres, according to the court documents seen by the Sunday Stabroek. He currently lives on the properties. The other defendants were allocated one plot each and these are way smaller than 1.5 acres.
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Jagdeo has described the lawsuits as “political.”
Jagdeo denies taking bribes from Chinese companies – Demerara Waves Online News- Guyana
# Jagdeo denies taking bribes from Chinese companies
by Denis Chabrol
Sunday, 13 February 2022, 16:19
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo
Last Updated on Sunday, 13 February 2022, 16:19 by Writer
Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has rejected claims of kickbacks to facilitate Chinese investors doing business in Guyana.
In an interview with the United States-headquartered Vice News that was posted on his Facebook page, he admits that he helps people but he denies that he takes bribes. “I help people out but doesn’t mean for consideration. It does not mean for bribe because I believe that we have a mission to help as many as possible move forward in Guyana,” he said.
He admits that he knows a gentleman whose name is Mr. Su who is his friend and his tenant but said that he is lying on him if he told the reporter those allegations.
Asked pointedly if he used middlemen like Su to take money on his behalf, Mr. Jagdeo said “no, the answer is no”. Pressed on why he thought that Su would say something like that, Mr. Jagdeo said he did not know and that the interviewer should ask Su.
The Vice President told the reporter that “if you’re looking to catch another, you have to come with details, you have to come with evidence.”
Mr. Jagdeo said he was unaware of Mr. Su’s operations possibly as a lobbyist for Chinese state-owned companies to develop infrastructure companies for as much as $500,000. “I don’t know how he makes his money. A lot of people are lobbyists and stuff like that here but if you check our policy-making, it’s clear,” he said.
Vice President Jagdeo, during a heated segment of the interview, accused the reporter of coming to Guyana to make someone look corrupt based on claims by an anonymous person or her fabrication. “How could I comment on a manager who does business with Su when I don’t know what is the nature of Su’s business so why would I want to even comment on this. You keep trying to get me to do something that I simply can’t do,” he said.
He said the Integrity Commission should be able to assess his assets, adding that the previous government had probed his wealth including his foreign bank accounts.
Mr. Jagdeo said he has met more American than Chinese companies “not because they are paying a bribe and they can be prosecuted globally.” He said Guyana’s laws are compliant with global standards to fight financial crimes.
The previous People’s Progressive Party Civic administration — 1992 to 2015 — had been often accused of corruption by the opposition and certain publications.
news coverage of WIN's refusal to attend the President's invitation to meet parliamentary sectoral committees on Foreign Affairs and Economic Services