-task force to be set up
President Irfaan Ali yesterday stated that even as government awaits information on the allegation of the smuggling of some 10,000 kilograms of gold out of Guyana which led to sanctions on the Mohameds, it was already looking at tightening oversight here to bring “greater rigidity.”
Announcing that government has since suspended all business ties with the Mohameds, he said that the information from US will help to assist and guide the local probe.
“Minister of Finance, the head of the GRA (Guy-ana Revenue Authority, its Commissioner General, head of the FIU (Financial Intelligence Unit), the Governor of the Central Bank, and the Guyana Gold Board, are the looking at the existing system and to look at areas that they can further work on strengthening,” Ali yesterday told a press conference at State House.
Speaking with the press publicly for the first time since the US last Tuesday announced the sanctions, he informed that the preliminary feedback from local authorities has highlighted the need for more collaborative work with other countries, particularly those that gold from this country is exported to.
“What we have found is that many of these areas will require collaboration with our bilateral partners. So the areas that we will focus on are the strengthening of the current regulation framework; looking at export regulation, harmonization of tax policies, and anti-money laundering measures,” the President said.
“…We look at this enhancing enforcement mechanism; increased surveillance, the development of a specialised task force to have greater inter-agency fluidity on information. International cooperation; definitely we will now have to work on. When we checked with the authorities, there are some weaknesses that are identified that require not only Guyana’s intervention, but intervention with all our partners. For example, the matching of declarations here and declarations in another jurisdiction. Of course, when a declaration is made in Guyana, that declaration accompanies the exporter who is exporting the gold, but you do not receive back a declaration that is made in that country upon entering in that border,” he added.
To advise on strengthening systems, he disclosed that a task force will be established and it will include the Attorney General, the Minister of Finance, the respective heads of the GRA and FIU, Governor of the Central Bank, and the Guyana Gold Board.
Process
Questioned on the Mohameds’ gold dealer’s licence and the reason for their Cambio licence being revoked but their gold licence remaining in place, Ali responded that everything goes through a process but that government had suspended doing all business with the Mohameds. He posited that maybe some processes take more time, and that government cannot operate without the requisite information.
“Everything is suspended. Let’s make this very clear; transactions with the Gold Board, everything. But as I said, there is a process. The rule of law is the rule of law. I don’t intervene in the process. There is due process in everything and that process is ongoing. Maybe one process is simpler to activate than the other process, but what you need to understand is that the substance of the sanctions, which is doing business, integrating with businesses, has been adhered to,” he said.
Now the process of dealing with all of the existing licenses, and all of these things, that is a process that the agencies are going through,” President Ali said.
And when government gets the information, he assured, it will act accordingly.
“The Government is awaiting the information to be sent, but as of now, what has been said in the report is the issue of tax evasion that we have to get the information [for]. The GRA has requested information, the Ministry of Finance has requested information; we can’t operate without the information,” he said.
“…when that information comes, if there is a discrepancy between what was declared here and what was declared there, which leads to tax evasion issue, then that helps us to build the case and then the GRA and the other agencies can take the necessary action that is required,” he added.
Delving into the background for the sanctions related to gold smuggling, the Treasury Department said that while gold is one of Guyana’s main exports, it remains a highly fractured industry with small-scale gold mining operations in Guyana occupying a majority share of the country’s gold production.
It pointed out that the small-scale miners have informal relationships with larger purchasers and traders like the Mohameds and their company Mohamed’s Enterprise, while noting that this country’s gold is sold and traded globally.
The senior Mohamed is the founder of Mohamed’s Enterprise in Guyana before expanding to the United States as a moneychanger and transitioning into gold trading, the statement said. It noted that the junior Mohamed ultimately took over Mohamed’s Enterprise, which also now does business as “Confidential Cambio.”
The US Department of the Treasury pointed to the period 2019 to 2023, with the claim that an astounding US$50 million in taxes were not paid by the Mohameds as a result of their failing to declare some 10,000 kilograms of gold.
“Azruddin and Mohamed’s Enterprise evaded Guyana’s tax on gold exports and defrauded the Guyanese government of tax revenues by underdeclaring their gold exports to Guyanese authorities. Between 2019 and 2023, Mohamed’s Enterprise omitted more than 10 thousand kilograms of gold from import and export declarations and avoided paying more than [US] $50 million in duty taxes to the Government of Guyana,” the statement contends.
The Mohameds have been silent since the sanctions.
