By Svetlana Marshall

Guyanese Business magnate, Nazar Mohamed, who was sanctioned last year by the US Government on claims of tax evasion and gold under-declaration, believes Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo is behind the demand of the Guyana Revenue Authority for the family to pay up more than $900 Million in additional taxes for luxury vehicles imported more than four years ago.

In an interview with News Source today, Mr. Mohamed said his family will not be making that payment and instead plans to take the Guyana Revenue Authority to Court over its demand, which he believes is politically motivated and malicious.

In four recent demand letters, the GRA informed siblings, Azruddin Mohamed and Hana Mohamed, that based on a re-assessment of customs duty and taxes on four luxury vehicles imported four years ago, they now owe the Revenue Authority more than $900 Million in taxes. The GRA has stated that failure to pay the money within 14 days will result in the seizure of the vehicles.

It has now been eight days since the demand letters were sent to the Mohameds.

Businessman Nazar Mohamed said the GRA’s move is intended to pressure his son not to seek political office since the governing party views him as a political threat.

“Even if we wanted to pay, how are we going to pay? That’s number one, which we are not prepared to pay anyway, because our legal team has told us that this is ridiculous. This is a clear case of victimization; this is a clear case of pressuring us so that he (my son) can say he is not into politics. They want him to make a statement that he is not going to run for this election,” Nazar Mohamed said.

According to Mr. Mohamed, with the exception of the tax exemption granted to his daughter Hana, who is a re-migrant, no other concessions were granted to the family.

But the GRA in its letters to the Mohameds contends that Hana Mohamed breached the conditions of the Tax Exemptions granted for the importation of a Ferrari car.

According to the tax authority, she failed to reside in Guyana for the mandatory period of at least 183 days annually during the concessionary period, but Nazar Mohamed has refuted the claim.

In the case of the other three vehicles owned by Azruddin Mohamed, the GRA said an investigation has revealed that the declared costs of the luxury vehicles are inconsistent with the values for similar vehicles with the same specifications.

Nazar Mohamed told News Source that the claims by the GRA four years after the importation of the vehicles make no sense.

“To my mind, this is a very vindicative move by the government because these vehicles have been processed by GRA, by all the agencies within GRA, four years and three years respectively. And I myself don’t understand, how come after all this time, this suddenly come up,” he said.

Nazar Mohamed said it is clear that Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo is behind the “vindictive” move.

He said the Government, which he previously supported, appears to be worried with his son’s political ambitions and philanthropic work across the country.

The younger Mohamed, Azruddin, has been visiting communities and meeting with citizens, and has also been building new homes for those in need and starting up new businesses for others.

He was also sanctioned by the US Government along with a number of the family’s businesses.

“Their main concern is that my son started his philanthropy work, and the public has been calling on him to seek political office. I have absolutely nothing to do with the politics, I am an elderly man, who only wants to return back to my lord in a manner that he is pleased with me,” he said.

Mr. Mohamed claims that the Government even sent a representative to meet with him on the issue of his son’s political ambitions.

“Just after the emissary would have taken back our conversation, the pressure started. And then suddenly, we received these letters from GRA,” he said.

Last week, the Maritime Administration Department announced that it has taken the decision not to renew the cabotage permission previously granted to Hadi’s World, which is owned by the Mohameds.

The cabotage permission allowed foreign-flagged vessels to operate on coastal voyages in Guyana’s waters. The company was granted a license to continue those operations after the US sanctions, but after the issue was recently highlighted and the last license expired in February, MARAD has indicated the license will not be extended.

The senior Mohamed said he cannot be stopped from doing business in Guyana and he intends to have the Court address the issue.

In announcing the sanctions in June 2024, the US Treasury Department warned that financial institutions and other persons that engage in certain transactions or activities with the sanctioned entities and individuals may expose themselves to sanctions or be subject to an enforcement action.

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