Recently, questions have arisen about whether Guyanese banks are correct in closing the accounts of individuals and organisations linked to a political figure sanctioned by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.
What the OFAC letter says
In official correspondence dated 12 August 2025, OFAC clarified that:
U.S. sanctions apply specifically to the sanctioned individual and any accounts/transactions in which that individual has an interest.
U.S. financial institutions must block transactions involving the sanctioned person.
However, non-sanctioned organisations and individuals are not automatically subject to sanctions, unless their transactions are directly tied to the sanctioned person.
Importantly, OFAC does not prohibit non-U.S. financial institutions (like Guyanese banks) from maintaining accounts for non-sanctioned persons, provided those accounts do not involve the sanctioned individual.
In other words: U.S. sanctions do not legally bind Guyanese banks in Guyana, unless the transactions have a direct connection to the U.S. financial system (e.g., U.S. dollars clearing through U.S. banks).
Guyana’s Constitution and Laws
According to the Constitution of Guyana:
Article 142 guarantees protection from deprivation of property, including money in a bank account, except by due process of law.
Banks in Guyana operate under the Financial Institutions Act (1995, amended), which requires them to comply with the Bank of Guyana’s regulations, not foreign government orders.
A customer’s account can only be closed under lawful circumstances, such as fraud, money laundering (per the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act, 2009), or breach of contract between bank and customer.
There is no Guyanese law that requires local banks to enforce U.S. sanctions against citizens or organisations unless those sanctions are formally adopted into local law or regulation by the Government of Guyana.