President Irfaan Ali used the stage of the opening of Guyana’s largest trade exposition, GUYEXPO, on Thursday night to send a warning against gold smuggling and gold under-declaration.

There have been growing concern over reports of gold under-declaration, gold smuggling and illegal gold mining in Guyana. It is suspected that many in the gold mining sector have been dodging the laws covering gold trading and have been making moves to smuggle gold out of Guyana and under-declare the amount to the Revenue Authority.

The President said those involved in the illegal activities will face the law.

“Those who are still not complying with the declarations, We are going to come after you hard and strong. We fill find you and you will lose your business. You are reaping the benefits from this sector, you have a responsibility to declare your gold and you have a responsibility to do so not by choice, but by law”, President Ali said.

The President’s warning comes as two of the key players in the gold industry in Guyana are facing an extradition hearing over allegations that they were involved in wire and mail fraud and money laundering linked to gold under-declaration and tax dodging.

The father and son businessmen, Nazar and Azruddin Mohamed have declared their innocence and are fighting the extradition request. In 2024, the two were sanctioned by the United States on allegations of gold under-declaration and tax dodging. A Government Permanent Secretary, Mae Thomas, was also sanctioned over her links to them and offering support.

Based on the US allegations, the Guyana Revenue Authority would have lost hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes because of the under declaration. President Ali told the GUYEXPO audience that leakages in the system that might support smuggling and under declaration must be removed.

“Imagine from one gold smuggler alone, this economy lost more than $190 Billion, one gold smuggler alone. We must ensure that our system does not produce those kind of people anymore. Our system must be locked in, must be protected and must be designed to ensure those leakages are removed”, Ali said.

Just last week, the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association offered its support to the Government to stamp out gold smuggling. The organisation also reminded miners of the designated agencies approved for gold purchase and trading in Guyana.

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