Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, S.C., says Guyana is intensifying efforts to seize money, gold, and other assets believed to be linked to criminal activity, while making clear that the State is legally entitled to take possession of tainted or sanctioned funds where the law allows.
Speaking on his “Issues in the News” programme, Nandlall said the Government, law enforcement agencies, and prosecutors are increasingly focusing on forfeiture proceedings as part of a modern crime-fighting strategy aimed at targeting the proceeds of crime rather than only pursuing convictions.
He said Guyana has already begun that process “earnestly” and is working with regional and international agencies to trace and recover criminal assets.
As part of that push, Nandlall pointed to a recent Full Court ruling in the matter involving Jacqueline Caines, in which the appellate judges upheld High Court detention orders obtained by the Attorney General under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act.
He said the case concerned over $14.6 million and US$7,844 found in Caines’ possession following a narcotics trafficking conviction, sums the State argued were proceeds of crime.
He also highlighted a separate ruling granted on March 23, 2026, in favour of the Special Organised Crime Unit, under which SOCU was permitted to detain 4,018.15 pennyweights of gold valued at more than $80.9 million, along with $81.1 million in cash, identified as property of Sebastiao de Oliveira Moura and GaGo Gold Inc.
Nandlall said those detention orders were secured while related criminal proceedings remain ongoing in the Magistrates’ Court.
According to Nandlall, the courts have recognised that such assets can be detained and ultimately deposited into the Consolidated Fund once they are found to be tainted or derived from criminal conduct. He rejected suggestions that the State is barred from taking money simply because it is connected to sanctioned individuals, describing that line of argument as baseless.
“The State will take every single sanctioned cent when the occasion arises,” Nandlall said, while signalling that additional high-profile forfeiture cases involving hundreds of millions of dollars are already in the pipeline.
He said the law gives the State a clear enforcement role in going after properties believed to have been acquired through unlawful means, and argued that asset recovery is now a central pillar of Guyana’s broader anti-crime and anti-money laundering framework.
Nandlall maintained that while legal processes may take time, more major seizures and forfeitures are expected as authorities continue to pursue assets linked to criminality.
