GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Guyanese businessman Nazar “Shell” Mohamed has confirmed that his lawyers are working to have the United States Treasury Department lift the sanctions it imposed on him, his son, Azruddin, their businesses, and a former senior public servant in June last year.
In June last year, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that it had sanctioned members of one of Guyana’s wealthiest families, a Guyana government official, as well as a company for their roles in public corruption in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.
In addition to imposing the sanctions on Nazar Mohamed, his son, Azruddin, their company, Mohamed’s Enterprise, and government official, Mae Thomas, OFAC has designated two other entities, Hadi’s World and Team Mohamed’s Racing Team, for being owned or controlled by Mohamed’s Enterprise and Azruddin, respectively.
It stated that these individuals and entities are sanctioned under Executive Order 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, targeting perpetrators of serious human rights abuses and corruption worldwide.
Washington has alleged that the Mohameds evaded more than US$50 million in taxes on over 10,000 kilograms of gold.
“My lawyers are dealing with that right now as we speak. I have an American lawyer. Several lawyers who are dealing with this issue as we speak,” Mohamed told reporters on the compound of the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, where his son had been released on GUY$500,000 (One Guyana dollar=US$0.004 cents) bail on two related charges of false declaration and tax evasion.
Mohamed told reporters that his lawyers were “definitely” working on having the US sanctions quashed.
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