Guyanese presidential candidate charged with false tax declaration

A wealthy Guyanese businessman turned presidential candidate, sanctioned by the US last year for tax evasion and for allegedly smuggling tons of gold to the US, appeared in court on Thursday, May 29 charged now with false tax declaration and under-invoicing on a high-end luxury vehicle.

Azruddin Mohamed, 38, a member of one of the country’s wealthiest families and a former governing party financier engaged in gold mining and foreign exchange trading, pleaded not guilty when he first appeared before a city magistrate. He is on $2,500 bail and must return to court next month for the start of his trial, which could land him in jail for up to three years.

His appearance in handcuffs in court for allegedly falsely under-invoicing the purchase price of a Lamborghini vehicle came just four days after he had announced plans to challenge the governing People’s Progressive Party (PPP) in general elections set for September 1st by putting together a party with dozens of candidates to contest the polls. He blames his plight on the fact that he is now in the political arena, on the wrong side, challenging the ruling party for power.

Mohamed and the tax department have been at loggerheads in recent months for allegedly submitting an invoice two years ago to the department indicating that he had paid only $75,000 for the vehicle, knowing it to be false. The department had stated that the vehicle was valued at $575,000 instead and Mohamed was recently charged.

Government officials have been attacking him publicly as a dishonest businessman, seeking publicity, but he has vowed to defeat the PPP in upcoming elections.

Mohamed, who has been traveling the country targeting PPP supporters and donating vehicles, newly constructed homes, and thousands in cash to people in need, has openly said that he is being targeted because of a nasty fallout with the PPP and because he has long signaled his intention to challenge President Irfaan Ali’s party.

He has said publicly that Ali is the one who ordered the vehicle to be cleared from the pier at the very price that he had submitted. Ali and the Mohamed family were close political and social allies at the time. He plans to lay bare documented evidence that Ali is the one who ordered the vehicle off the pier.

“I have proof where Irfaan Ali facilitated and assisted with the clearance of the Lamborghini. I am waiting for him to say that this is a lie. Trust me, anytime he comes out and says that, I will show the whole country how dishonorable he is. Let him come out and say he did not. I have proof,” Mohamed told reporters outside the courthouse.

Despite being sanctioned with all of his businesses shuttered by the state, Mohamed said he is nevertheless plowing ahead with plans to topple the Indo-dominated PPP vying for a second five-year term.

A year ago, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on Mohamed and his father, Nazar, for their roles in public corruption. The department had alleged that Mohamed’s Enterprise had evaded Guyanese taxes on gold exports worth US$50 million between 2019-23. The scheme involved around 10,000 kilos of gold, and no taxes were paid on the sanction stated.