GUYANA | "Let the Chips Fall Where They May": GHK Lall Defies Jagdeo's Gold Smuggling Probe

Former Gold Board Chairman welcomes investigation while warning it could expose more than government anticipates

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, October 19, 2025 - When Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo publicly named former Guyana Gold Board Chairman GHK Lall as a target for investigation into alleged gold smuggling links, he likely expected contrition or silence. Instead, he got a declaration of war.

"I am glad that Dr. Jagdeo has initiated this step. Let it lead where it leads, let the chips fall where they do," Lall fired back in a blistering op-ed that transformed defense into offense. The columnist and outspoken government critic didn't just welcome scrutiny—he promised it would boomerang onto the administration itself.

The confrontation stems from Jagdeo's directive that the Guyana Police Force and Guyana Revenue Authority launch a "full-fledged investigation" into government officials allegedly complicit in helping city businessmen Azruddin and Nazar "Shell" Mohamed evade over US$50 million in taxes on more than 10,000 kilograms of smuggled gold. 

The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control has alleged that Mohamed's Enterprise bribed customs officials to falsify documents, paid off government officials to facilitate illicit shipments, and secured lucrative government contracts through corruption.

The timing is politically explosive. Azruddin Mohamed leads the WIN party, which captured 16 seats in Parliament and now holds the position of Leader of the Opposition—though he has yet to be sworn in. 

The investigation's announcement while Mohamed navigates this constitutional transition has fueled speculation that Jagdeo is applying pressure to weaken the new opposition before it can effectively challenge the government.

Jagdeo specifically named Lall, who chaired the Gold Board from 2017 to 2020, as someone who "may have been complicit in assisting the Mohameds to (allegedly) evade the massive sum of taxes." 

It was a direct, public accusation against one of the administration's most persistent critics—and a move that implicates the yet-to-be-sworn-in Opposition Leader in a widening corruption scandal.

Lall's response dripped with defiance: "The Guyana Police Force is free to launch, to conduct, any 'full-fledged investigation' of GHK Lall. That's me, and they know where to find me."

But he didn't stop there. Lall characterized Jagdeo's move as the latest in a series of politically motivated "witch hunts" designed to silence dissent. 

"From the hour that the PPP retook the reins of government in August 2020, GHK Lall was among the highest of its priorities," he wrote, noting that his tenure spanned both PNC and PPP administrations—yet only under the current government has he faced repeated investigation.

"The PPP Government of Bharrat Jagdeo has had over five and a half years to peek and probe, to investigate and regurgitate… Yet, here I am still standing, by grace," Lall declared, suggesting that the absence of charges after years of scrutiny speaks louder than the accusations themselves.

Then came the threat wrapped in confidence: "This will turn out to be more than Dr. Jagdeo bargained for, because it will be his Guyana Police Force that is more under scrutiny than me." 

Lall warned that "the can of worms that he thinks he is opening will put he himself and his government under the sharpest scrutiny."

It's a calculated gamble. Either Lall is bluffing—a dangerous move when facing potential criminal investigation—or he possesses information that could prove embarrassing, or worse, for the administration. 

His invocation of truth as shield suggests the latter: "Know the truth and the truth shall set free. Better yet, live those same truths and there is no reason to fear any man."

The Mohamed case has already resulted in U.S. indictments on 11 counts of fraud and money laundering, with potential extradition looming. 

The GRA has issued a tax assessment of GY$191 billion including penalties. Yet despite OFAC's specific allegations of bribed officials, no government employee has been charged with any offense.

This vacuum of accountability creates space for competing narratives. Is Jagdeo finally pursuing corrupt officials who enabled massive tax evasion? 

Or is he weaponizing legitimate anti-corruption measures to neutralize both a vocal critic in Lall and a political rival in Mohamed before he can assume his constitutional role as Opposition Leader?

The pattern of vocal critics and political opponents facing official scrutiny is familiar across the Caribbean, where the line between accountability and persecution often blurs in ways that serve those in power.

What happens next will reveal much about Guyana's commitment to impartial justice. If the investigation produces evidence of wrongdoing, it will vindicate Jagdeo's directive. 

If it produces nothing—again—it will reinforce suspicions that anti-corruption rhetoric masks political score-settling at a crucial moment in the nation's democratic cycle.

Lall has thrown down the gauntlet. Now the question is whether Jagdeo's investigators are prepared for where those falling chips might land.

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