The US Government through its Treasury Department has accused Permanent Secretary, Mae Thomas, of being involved in bribery schemes with the Mohamed family and their business enterprises.

Thomas, along with the Mohameds and their businesses have all been sanctioned for corruption by the US Treasury Department.

In explaining Mae Thomas’ alleged involvement, the Treasury Department accuses the Government official of being involved in ensuring favorable treatment in criminal or civil matters that would otherwise suggest the involvement of the Mohameds in illegal criminal activity in return for cash and gifts.

The US Treasury Department said Mohamed’s Enterprise has paid bribes to corrupt Guyanese government officials to facilitate the award of government contracts.

According to the US Government, a corrupt Permanent Secretary could manipulate procurement processes to suit their preferred bidder by providing inside information at the early stages of evaluation.

The Treasury Department said that it found that while Mae Thomas served as Permanent Secretary to Guyana’s Minister of Home Affairs, she used her position to offer benefits to Mohamed’s Enterprise and Azruddin Mohamed, among others, in exchange for cash payments and high-value gifts.

Thomas, who is also a member of the Central Committee of the governing PPP, has also been accused by the US of misusing her position to influence the award of official contract bids and the approval processes for weapons permits and passports on behalf of Mohamed’s Enterprise.

The US said Azruddin Mohamed and Mohamed’s Enterprise have been designated for being persons who have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery, that is conducted by a foreign person.

The father, Nazar Mohamed, has been sanctioned for being a foreign person who is or has been a leader or official of Mohamed’s Enterprise, an entity whose property and interests in property are blocked in the US as a result of activities related to Nazar’s tenure. 

It was explained that Thomas has been sanctioned for being a foreign person who is a government official, and who is responsible for or complicit in, or has directly or indirectly engaged in, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery.

Thomas had been grilled by US authorities at the JFK Airport in New York in April 2023. Her US visa was eventually revoked and her mobile phone was seized during her interrogation.

The Guyana Government was tightlipped on the nature of the questions she faced but eventually transferred her from being the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Home Affairs, to the position of Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Labour.

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