Court bars GRA from seizing Mohameds luxury vehicles until substantive matter is heard
Apr 12, 2025
Kaieteur News- High Court Judge Gino Persaud on Friday afternoon upheld an injunction he had granted the previous week, barring the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) from seizing several luxury vehicles belonging to businessman Azruddin Mohamed.
Justice Gino Persaud
Last Saturday, Justice Persaud issued the interim injunction pending a response from GRA in relation to a legal challenge brought by Mohamed. The Revenue Authority is going after the luxury vehicles claiming that the Mohameds failed to pay over $1.2 billion for those vehicles. The injunction came after agents of the GRA and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) visited Mohamed’s residence to seize the vehicles but were forced to retreat when Team Mohamed’s supporters surrounded the premises in protest.
Justice Persaud had granted the GRA time to file their response to the injunction. Arguments on whether the interim order should remain in place until the conclusion of the substantive matter began Friday morning.
Attorney-at-law Siand Dhurjon, representing Azruddin and Hannah Mohamed, explained that arguments before Justice Persaud lasted for over two hours. He was accompanied by attorney-at-law Damien DaSilva, while Sanjeev Datadin, Robin Stoby, Jason Moore, and others appeared for the GRA.
According to Dhurjon, after hearing submissions and asking probing questions, Justice Persaud adjourned the matter to 3:30 pm. When the hearing resumed, the judge delivered a detailed ruling, concluding that the balance of justice required the preservation of the status quo. This means no vehicle seizures should occur until the substantive issue is fully heard and determined.
Guyanese businessman Azruddin Mohamed
“We are very pleased with that. We believe that this is a case where justice has not been delayed nor denied. We thank His Honour for the extraordinary effort he would have made to see to the conclusion of our injunction application within six days, and we return to court in these matters on the 15th of May,” Dhurjon stated. At that hearing, the court is expected to consider the arguments from both sides on the core issues of the case.
In a statement, the court’s registrar outlined that Friday’s decision is not the final ruling on the matter. “It is not a final ruling on the merits of the two cases which will be heard and determined at a later date. I emphasise that today I have not made any findings of fact in respect of the merits of the cases, as I am not required to do so at this interim stage… An interim injunction is an order made for the duration of the litigation to protect a party’s rights pending a final judicial determination. It is not a final resolution,” it was explained.
Azruddin Mohamed, for his part, has claimed that the People’s Progressive Party government is behind GRA’s move to seize his vehicles. He has alleged that it is politically motivated, stemming from PPP fears that he may contest the upcoming elections.
“They said they come to seize the vehicles, so I don’t know all of a sudden you come to seize the vehicles. They should have seized the first day they arrived in the country,” Mohamed said.
He disclosed that he will be making public statements in the near future to show that officials of the PPP government were aware of the vehicles even before they were imported. Mohamed added, “But before I released the post on Facebook what Bharrat is talking about… that’s a lie. The reason I released that post is because a month prior to that Jagdeo and Nandlall told me that they are coming to seize the vehicles if I don’t release a statement that I’m not running for office, so this is political.”
He insisted that he has evidence proving the vehicles were legally approved. “We are not giving up the vehicles because the vehicles were approved, everything went through the legal process at GRA so why seize the vehicles now four years after.”
However, GRA has maintained that they have irrefutable evidence against the Mohameds to show that the vehicles were imported into the country through the remigrant scheme and that they made false declarations. The Authority said that their assessment on the vehicles have revealed that the Mohameds owe GRA over $1.2 billion in taxes for the vehicles.
Details revealed by GRA are as follows:
- One 2020 Ferrari PAD 5000 in the name of Hana Mohamed, with additional taxes of $479,743, 489 for breach of the re-migrant requirements,
- One 2023 Land Rover Range Rover PAC 9000 in the name of Leslie Khan, with additional taxes of $61,485,982 for breach of the re-migrant requirements,
- One 2023 Rolls Royce PAE 5000 in the name of Bibi Mohamed, with additional taxes of $320,064,246 for breach of the re-migrant requirements,
- One 2020 Lamborghini Roadster PZZ 4000 titled to Azruddin Mohamed, with additional taxes of $371,775,168 for false declaration of value.
- One 2021 Toyota Land Cruiser PAB 4000 titled to Azruddin Mohamed, with additional taxes of $24,641,272 for false declaration of value.
- One 2021 Toyota Land Cruiser PAB 3000 titled to Azruddin Mohamed, with additional taxes of $24,641,272 for false declaration of value.
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