Banks justified in closing accounts tied to US-sanctioned Mohamed; Mae Thomas’ accounts also closed – Jagdeo

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) and the country’s Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has rubbished claims by candidates of the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) political party, founded by United States-sanctions businessman Azruddin Mohamed, that the government is influencing commercial banks to close their accounts.

Speaking during his party’s weekly press conference today, he noted that former member of the PPP/C Mae Thomas who – along with Mohamed, his father and businesses – was sanctioned by the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), had her accounts closed shortly after the sanctions were disclosed.

“What about Mae Thomas?…The fact of the matter is that Mae Thomas’ accounts were closed by Citizens Bank and Republic Bank. That is the fact of the matter,” Jagdeo highlighted.

Thomas is a former Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Labour. She was sanctioned by the US along with businessmen Nazar Mohamed and his son Azruddin.

Azruddin has since launched a political party – WIN – to contest the 2025 General and Regional Elections. He is listed as the Presidential Candidate.

It was recently disclosed that Demerara Bank Limited has so far moved to close the accounts of several WIN’s candidates including Duarte Hetsberger and Natasha Singh-Lewis.

While they have alleged discrimination by the bank, DBL has stated that its decision was made to ensure the bank complies with regulations of the international financial sector as it relates to sanctioned individuals.

Jagdeo on Thursday explained that all banks will be forced to de-risk their services to protect relations with United States banking facilities.

“The banks in Guyana, if they lose two things: access to the SWIFT that allows them to transfer money – it’s a code used by all banks around the world –when you transfer money abroad, you have to access that system,” he explained.

“If you lose correspondent banking relations with the US or you lose access to the SWIFT, you might as well shut down the bank, you can’t function, you can’t send a wire transfer abroad,” he further outlined.

Jagdeo, an economist by profession who also served as Minister of Finance from 1995 to 1999, further questioned, “how will we pay for goods and services? We going to put the money in bag or get Mohamed to smuggle it out for you?”

He noted that the candidates affected by the banks’ decision were aware of what they were signing up for, as they were adequately warned about the risks of being associated with a US-sanctioned individual at that level of OFAC.

“What is this big outrage?…all the people who are on his list, in spite of being told about this, you’re now formally part of an organisation headed by a man who is an OFAC sanctioned individual. It is different from when you were not on the list…so you are subjected to enhanced scrutiny, no bank will want to risk their relationship with the US,”  Jagdeo said.

He pointed out that more banks will be taking similar steps to protect their relations with US banks as well as the private sector.

Jagdeo also used the opportunity to criticise Mohamed and his associates for trying to downplay the impact of the US sanctions.

US Ambassador to Guyana Nicole Theriot recently expressed that the US would be concerned if the sanctioned businessman is elected a parliamentarian.

The Vice President also posited that the ambassador is justified in her statement.

“The treasury sanction is a serious sanction, it’s not just like taking away your visa which is a form of sanction too…it dictates how US entities can engage with sanctioned individuals, you are prohibited from dealing with these individuals,” Jagdeo explained.