Azruddin Mohamed and father indicted by US on four counts
US-sanctioned businessman and the leader of We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) Azruddin Mohamed and his father Nazar ‘Shell’ Mohamed have been slapped with a four-count indictment in the US Florida Southern District Court.
According to documents seen by Stabroek News, Mohamed and his father conspired to commit wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud and conspired to commit money laundering. The two were indicted on October 3rd according to the documents.
The indictments come over a year after the two along with then Permanent Secretary Mae Toussaint Jr Thomas were sanctioned by the US in June of 2024.
Since then Mohammed formed the WIN part and contested in the just concluded general and regional and captured some 16 parliamentarian seats, relegating the PNCR to the third party position with a mere 12 seats while the ruling PPP/C walked away with 36 seats and newly formed Forward Guyana Party gained one seat.
While the parliamentarians have not yet been sworn in as yet, since President Irfaan Ali is yet to issue the proclamation to initiate this process, Mohamed is more than likely to be named the new opposition leader.
It was 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. Toussaint Jr Thomas, was cited for alleged corruption leading to her being immediately sent on leave by the government here.
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.
For Toussaint Jr Thomas’s part, it said that she used her office while serving at the Ministry of Home Affairs, to offer benefits to the Mohameds that included contracts, licences for weapons, and passports.
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.”
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.”
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.”
