Guyana’s Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo today stated that the Government of Guyana (GoG) will only act on the money laundering allegations made in a Reuters publication against Guyanese businessmen, Nazar Mohamed and his son, Azruddin if the Unites States Government officially engages it on any ongoing investigation.
The Vice President’s comments come almost one week after Reuters, a global information and news provider headquartered in London, England, published a special report, ‘U.S. probing Exxon contractor in Guyana for smuggling drugs, gold’ dated July 14, which centers around the Mohamed’s mining magnates facing a U.S. investigation on suspicions of money laundering, drug trafficking and gold smuggling.
During his press conference this afternoon, Jagdeo was asked about the Reuters story. He responded, “First of all…we have confirmed that the Government of Guyana has not been officially informed of any investigation into the Mohamed’s or what the allegations are at this stage.”
The extensive Reuters article speaks about the Mohammed’s operations as well as their allege involvement with President Irfaan Ali and his family. It should be noted that Mohamed’s has responded to the article calling it defamatory and challenging Reuters to produce evidence.
Jagdeo stated that he has read the Reuters article and what was evident is that every U.S agency that the media entity contacted for a comment on the investigation against the Guyanese businessman, denied to do so.
To this end, he said, “So the government of Guyana will act on this matter when the U.S engages officially, if it engages the government of Guyana. Right now, we have a story from Reuters with some allegations.”
Moreover, Jagdeo said that in the same story, allegations were made against President Ali’s family having close ties to the Mohamed’s, alleging that the businessman may have influenced the 2020 elections to secure the presidency for Ali, thus resulting in the president acting in favour of the Mohameds.
To this, the Vice President noted, “The Mohameds had no part to play in his (President Ali) election to office. He worked hard and we campaigned as a party throughout this country and the people of Guyana chose him. So that aspect is a rumor. Reuters had that somehow they (the Mohamed’s) influenced his selection and elevation into the presidency, that is absolute nonsense.”
