Amid an investigation initiated by Brazilian federal authorities against a Guyanese businessman suspected of laundering millions worth of illegally mined gold into that country, Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has warned of tough measures and serious consequences.
According to an article published by Brazil’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security, the investigation focuses on individuals believed to have facilitated the movement of illegally sourced gold from Guyana into Brazil.
The probe was initiated after authorities discovered the involvement of an alleged Guyanese businessman, who has ties to the gold mining industry in Guyana and conducts business in Brazil under suspicious circumstances.
Reports are that Federal Police agents suspect that the Guyanese businessman has a Brazilian partner who aided in the movement of funds through the companies.
One of these entities, purportedly involved in the trade of hospital supplies, has allegedly laundered over US$12.3 million worth of gold through its operations, despite having no physical presence at its registered address.
Commenting on this development during a press conference on Thursday, Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo admitted that the government has indeed noticed a drop in gold declarations.
“It’s true, it’s absolutely true that we’ve noticed, especially in the last couple of years, a significant deviation, and with the story coming out from Brazil, now we realise that it may be diverting. We had one stage thought that Venezuela gold was coming into Guyana to bypass the sanctions and go out…now we’re realising that it’s actually our gold going into Brazil and obviously to bypass the five per cent royalty and the two per cent final tax, seven per cent, that they don’t have to pay…that might be one of the reasons,” Jagdeo stated.
Noting that at least one foreign company has a significant drop in their declarations, the Vice President has warned of consequences for those found to be engaged in illegal activities.
“There’s an ongoing investigation into that and we’re going to take tough measures against people because we’re going to track also those who are benefitting from concessions. A lot of the local medium-scale miners, they get concessions from the government too and if they’re a part of this racket then they will face consequences too as well as those who are a part of the export of the gold.”
The Bank of Guyana (BoG), in its first quarter statistical report on the performance of the economy for the year, said gold declarations decreased by 5.3% when compared to the same period last year.
