The Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) has initiated the process of closing accounts associated with candidates from Azruddin Mohamed’s US-sanctioned political party, We Invest in Nationhood (WIN). This decision adheres to the bank’s established risk assessment protocols.
Reports confirm that last week Demerara Bank also shut down various accounts belonging to WIN candidates. Both Natasha Singh-Lewis and Duarte Hetsberger disclosed receiving identical notifications from GBTI, indicating that the actions were taken in accordance with the bank’s internal policies.
Odessa Primus, a member of WIN’s executive, suggested that the financial sanctions against the party’s presidential candidate may be influencing the bank’s decision to distance itself from WIN’s representatives.
In August of the previous year, the Bank of Guyana declared that all financial institutions in the country had closed accounts linked to the Mohamed family and their enterprises due to US-imposed sanctions related to alleged public corruption. On June 11, 2024, Azruddin Mohamed, his father Nazar, and their businesses, including Mohamed’s Enterprise, faced sanctions from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for illicit activities.
According to the OFAC, the Mohamed family engaged in tax evasion by underreporting gold exports, resulting in the avoidance of over $50 million in duty taxes owed to the Guyanese government between 2019 and 2023.
Source: guyanachronicle.com
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