During outreaches in various hinterland communities, Azrudin Mohamed claimed he has been sanctioned by President Irfaan Ali and the PPP Government, implying that he was not sanctioned by the American Government.
This note is a simple challenge to this presidential hopeful – travel to America if you dare.
Despite his misrepresentation, one TRUTH remains – Azrudin Mohamed has been sanctioned by the US Government for alleged criminal activities, including smuggling of gold and evasion of taxes, worth billions of dollars, as much as $10B. This is FACT. The sanction was announced by the US Government. The Guyana Government neither was engaged in the process nor initiated the process. In the declaration of the sanctions against Mohamed, the US Government warned that anyone who does business with Mohamed is liable to be sanctioned themselves.
Mohamed insults the intelligence of the Guyanese people by trying to shift the sanction from an American Government sanction to a Guyana Government sanction and trying to make this a political victimization story. The truth is that Azrudin Mohamed is desperately trying to find cover and hopes that being a political candidate would stop any action to make him accountable.
In one of the shore-based businesses located on the West Bank of the Demerara River, the Mohameds were a major investor. They had to pull out of the consortium because of the threat from the American Government, with the other partners in consortium becoming worried that their business would become victims of American sanction also. Since the sanction, no bank in Guyana is willing to conduct business with the Mohameds. In a recent post, Azrudin Mohamed admitted that no domestic airline will allow him to travel with them. We know that certain individuals have been denied entry into America because of association with Mohamed. We know that a number of other Guyanese have been subjected to ICE questioning.
Azrudin Mohamed, as a citizen of Guyana, has a right to be a candidate for the highest position in our nation. Everyone, in fact, has a right to be a candidate in democratic elections in Guyana, as long as certain constitutionally-mandated eligibility criteria are met. For example, certain Guyanese-born persons who might want to put up their names as candidates for MPs or to become president are not eligible because they must be citizens only of Guyana. Dual citizens are ineligible to be candidates in our elections for MPs or to become President. Therefore, if Azrudin Mohamed fancy himself as president, there is nothing to stop him from pursuing his ambition, as long as he follows the rules and meet all the eligibility requirements of the constitution and the ROPA (Representation of the People’s Act).
Objection to Mohamed and to other candidates has to do with the trail of lies that constitute their election campaigns. In the case of Mohamed, while he has only had a short political career, his trail of lies has become legendary already. One of the lies he has been telling citizens, especially in the hinterland communities is that he has been sanctioned by the Guyana Government because President Irfaan Ali and the PPP are afraid of him and that the sanction is political recrimination. This is a verifiable, barefaced, shameless lie. The Guyana Government has never sanctioned Azrudin Mohamed.
Note that the American sanctions occurred long before Mohamed announced his intentions to participate in Elections 2025 and, therefore, his assertion that the sanctions are political recrimination are wholly false.
Azrudin Mohamed, now that he has entered the political field, has become the only internationally-sanctioned politician in Guyana at the moment. Outside of what the Americans have sanctioned him for he incurred the wrath of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) when he publicly claimed that he has paid billions of dollars of taxes. It is simply unfathomable that his narcissism exposed his crime. It was his boasting that renewed the GRA attention, not a witch-hunting as he claimed. It was his FB-posting that alerted the GRA to fraud and under-valuing of vehicles. In one instance, he lied to the GRA that he paid $US75,000 for a Lamborghini, when, in fact, he paid close to $US700,000, a fact confirmed by the US Government.
To be clear, he is the only internationally-sanctioned person and the only person presently running for the presidency that has criminal charges against him that is running for the presidency.
The ball is in his court – having stated that he has been sanctioned by the PPP Government led by President Irfaan Ali, we are daring Azrudin Mohamed to travel to the USA. He has nothing to fear if there is no sanction by the US Government.