-Washington tells gov’t
The Government of Guyana has been advised by the US that information being sought on sanctions against gold dealers, Nazar Mohamed and Azruddin Mohamed and Permanent Secretary Mae Toussaint Jr Thomas would have to be sourced via the Department of Justice (DoJ).
Minister of Finance Ashni Singh last night issued a statement saying that in the matter of the Guyana Government’s request for relevant information concerning the sanctions against “certain Guyanese individuals and entities”, it was told to direct such requests from the office of Guyana’s Attorney General to the US Department of Justice, which will then work with the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to gather source documentation on the matter.
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) also informed that it was advised that while this could be a long process, it should be aided by the fact that both Guyana and the US are signatories to the Inter-American Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance. Further, additional information was also shared with Guyana on the mutual legal assistance process.
The government has stated that it will now submit the request following the process advised.
The release recalled that immediately following the actions taken on June 11 by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) within the United States Department of the Treasury to sanction certain Guyanese individuals and entities, the Government of Guyana wrote the US authorities requesting relevant information to be shared with Guyana to facilitate its own investigation of the matters concerned.
According to the release, these requests for information were sent by Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance and the Public Service, and also by the Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority, to the US Department of the Treasury, under the ambit of the Tax Information Exchange Agreement between Guyana and the US. It also informed that the Government of Guyana has remained in close contact with the US authorities since.
The government also stated that it will continue to pursue, through the appropriate channel, the obtaining of relevant information covered by the Tax Information Exchange Agreement. This Agreement, it explained, provides for the exchange of information to administer and enforce laws concerning the taxes specified therein, to assure the accurate assessment and collection of taxes to prevent fiscal fraud and evasion, and to develop improved information sources for tax matters.
And in addition to the mutual legal assistance process, the government expects that the arrangements in place for exchange of tax information and cooperation between tax authorities will provide a means through which relevant information can be shared on matters of this nature in a timely and effective manner.
“We will continue to work closely with all our US counterparts in order to advance this matter in the most thorough and expeditious manner possible,” the release added.
On June 11, the United States Department of The Treasury imposed sanctions on the Mohameds over the alleged massive smuggling of gold, sending shockwaves through the country. 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.
Neither the Mohameds nor Toussaint Jr Thomas had said anything though they had previously denied involvement in illegalities following varying allegations.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (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.”
On June 14, United States Ambassador to Guyana, Nicole Theriot said that the investigation leading to the sanctioning of the Mohameds and Permanent Secretary Mae Toussaint Jr. Thomas was more than two years in the making and that information could not be provided to anyone here lest it be compromised.
“These sanctions were two and a half years plus of investigations ongoing in the United States. We reserve these type of sanctions for gross levels of corruption and human rights abuses,” the Ambassador told reporters at the US Embassy, Georgetown, on the sidelines of a press conference held by United States Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, Bonnie Jenkins.
