By Marianna Parraga
GEORGETOWN (Reuters) -Guyanese businessman and politician Azruddin Mohamed and his father Nazar Mohamed would be extradited to the United States to face charges of fraud and money laundering related to gold exports, once U.S. authorities formally make the request, Guyana's Attorney General said.
The businessmen, who own the gold-exporting firm Mohamed's Enterprise, were indicted in a Florida court last week on charges of conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering to enrich
themselves and defraud the government of Guyana.
Azruddin Mohamed is positioned to be sworn in as Guyana's opposition leader by November, after his political party - founded four months ago - won 16 parliamentary seats in Guyana's general election in September.
"The next step is for the government of the United States of America to request the government of Guyana the extradition of the two persons," Attorney General Anil Nandlall said late on Tuesday in a show he regularly broadcasts on social media.
"This process, which will be embarked upon, is a legal one and is contained in an extradition framework between the government of the U.S. and the government of Guyana," he added.
Neither Azruddin nor Mohamed nor Nazar Mohamed immediately replied to a request for comment on the charges.
Azruddin Mohamed told local media on Monday he was assembling a legal team to challenge the U.S. charges and that Guyana's tax agency notified him and his father last week that they owe the government some $917 million in taxes and penalties.
He also accused Guyana's ruling People's Progressive Party of persecuting him due to his foray into politics.
"Fearing the momentum seen at the last election and the cry of the Guyanese people for change, they are doing everything possible to stop me," he said in a statement on Monday.
GOLD EXPORTS ON THE RADAR
Azruddin Mohamed and his father are accused of entering into agreements to sell and transport Guyanese gold to buyers in Miami and Dubai by fraudulently reusing Guyana customs declarations and seals, the court for the Southern District of Florida said on Thursday.
They also are accused of paying bribes to Guyanese officials so that customs officials would accept the gold shipments with duplicate paperwork, in one of a total of 11 charges.
The shipments started around 2017, prosecutors said in the indictment.
At least 10,000 kilograms of gold were exported through Miami without payment of Guyanese taxes and royalties, causing a loss to the Guyanese authorities of approximately $50 million, the prosecutors alleged.
Prosecutors are seeking to have the businessmen forfeit property, including a $5.3 million shipment of gold bars from Guyana seized at a Miami airport last year.
The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions last year on the businessmen over the same fraud allegations.
A company owned by the family was formerly part of a consortium building a $300 million logistics base in the South American country for oil giant Exxon Mobil.
(Reporting by Kemol King and Marianna Parraga; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Nia Williams)
