Opposition leader, businessman detained over US fraud and money laundering case

The Guyana government Friday confirmed that businessman Nazar Mohamed and Azruddin Mohamed — the leader of the main opposition We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party — had been “arrested’ following a warrant issued by a magistrate of the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.

The Office of the Attorney General said in a statement on Thursday that government received a request from the United States government to extradite the two Mohameds “pursuant to an extradition treaty” between the two countries “which extends to and remain in force in Guyana under the provisions of . . . the Fugitives Offender Act”.

It said that the arrest warrant was issued after a team of lawyers led by Terrence Willaims, KC, Herbert McKenzie and Celine Deidrick, presented to the magistrate an Authority to Proceed from the Guyana government accompanied by an Application for an arrest warrant as is mandated under the provision of the Act.

The Mohameds are the subject of an indictment unsealed on October 6, 2025, by a United States Grand Jury sitting in the Southern District of Florida, which charges them with multiple offences including wire fraud, mail fraud, money-laundering, conspiracy, aiding and abetting and customs-related violations connected to an alleged US$50 million gold export and tax evasion scheme.

The indictment alleges that between 2017 and June 2024, the accused conspired to defraud the Guyana government by evading export taxes and royalties on over 10 000 kilogrammes of gold, using falsified customs declarations and re-used export seals to disguise unpaid duties. The indictment further references the attempted shipment of US$5.3 million in undeclared gold seized at Miami International Airport, and the alleged under-invoicing of a luxury vehicle valued at over US$680 000.

The statement said that the investigation into the Mohameds by US authorities is understood to have originated in the mid-2010s, with intelligence and law-enforcement cooperation between Guyana and the United States dating back to 2016–2017.

According to the indictment, the alleged fraudulent scheme operated “from in or about 2017” through June 2024.

(CMC)