GEORGETOWN, Guyana — Despite facing a sweeping U.S. indictment accusing him of money laundering, bribery, and tax evasion, billionaire businessman Azruddin Mohamed will still be allowed to serve as Guyana’s new opposition leader, legal experts have confirmed.
Mohamed, 38, heir to one of Guyana’s wealthiest family empires, is at the center of an 11-count indictment unsealed last week in Florida’s Southern District. The charges include money laundering, wire and mail fraud, and corruption offenses allegedly committed between 2017 and 2024. His father, Nazar Mohamed, and their flagship company, Mohamed’s Enterprise, are also named in the case.
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The indictment accuses the Mohameds of orchestrating a multi-million-dollar gold smuggling and tax evasion scheme, involving the reuse of official Guyanese state revenue boxes to disguise untaxed gold shipments to the United States. Prosecutors allege the family bribed customs officials and falsified export documentation to evade more than US$50 million in taxes.
Despite the gravity of the charges, Guyana’s Clerk of Parliament, Sherlock Isaacs, confirmed that Mohamed remains legally eligible to take office. “He can serve in Parliament unless and until he is convicted in a court of law,” Isaacs said, emphasizing that an indictment alone does not bar him from holding public office.
Mohamed’s We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party emerged as a major political force in the September elections, winning 16 of 65 seats — the second-largest share in the National Assembly — and positioning Mohamed as the formal leader of the opposition. His rise marks a dramatic shift in Guyana’s political landscape, dominated for decades by two traditional parties.
Mark Kirton, a political analyst and former Director of the Institute of International Relations at the University of the West Indies, said the situation is complex but not unprecedented. “The legal process could be lengthy, even extending to extradition proceedings,” he noted. “Until a verdict is reached, Mohamed remains free to perform his parliamentary duties.”
In his first public statement following the indictment, Mohamed dismissed the charges as politically motivated. “This is not just a personal attack — this is political,” he declared. “It’s a fear tactic by those who see the rise of a new movement in Guyana.”
The controversy, however, deepens an ongoing debate about corruption in Guyana’s rapidly expanding oil economy. The U.S. Treasury Department previously sanctioned Mohamed, his father, and their company in 2023 for allegedly smuggling over 22,000 pounds (10,000 kilograms) of gold to the United States. Washington accused the family of using “extensive bribery schemes involving senior government officials” to facilitate the illegal trade.
While officials in Georgetown have not confirmed whether the U.S. will seek Mohamed’s extradition, senior members of the Guyanese government, including the vice president, have acknowledged it as a possibility.
For now, Mohamed remains defiant, preparing to assume his seat in Parliament even as he battles a legal firestorm abroad. His case has become a litmus test for how far Guyana’s political system can stretch the line between presumed innocence and public accountability — in a nation where power and wealth increasingly intersect with the rule of law.
